Scientists discovered something new on HIV and it is an 'invisibility cloak' used to hide itself inside cells of the body which doesn't trigger natural defence of the immune system. Latest discovery helps an effective drug which will 'uncloak' HIV to trigger immune response.

Cloaking Ability of HIV

AIDS-causing virus, HIV, puzzled the medical world on its capabilty of sneaking inside healthy cells without getting caught by the guards of the immune system and now scientists have found another special ability - an 'invisibility cloak'

Just like Harry Potter's Cloak of Invisibility capable of sneaking past even powerful wizards, HIV uses a built-in trait of cloaking technique which prevents it from alerting natural defences of the immune system and allows it to infect and spread without sanctions.

The study was lead by Professor Greg Towers of Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow at University College London revealed the extreme skill of HIV to hiding from our body's natural defences.

"HIV is extremely adept at hiding from our body's natural defences which is part of the reason the virus is so dangerous. Now we've identified the virus' invisibility cloak and how to expose it, we've uncovered a weakness that could be exploited for new HIV treatments. There's a great deal more research needed, but the potential for this approach is huge - as a possible treatment in itself but also as a complement to existing therapies. We're also interested to see whether blocking these cloaking molecules can help to boost immune responses to experimental vaccines against HIV or be used to protect against HIV transmission," Towers explained, quoted by Wellcome Trust.

Stripping off Cloaking Skill

Professor Greg Towers also included a method from his study which will strip HIV of its 'cloaking' powers that can be used as a treatment itself or preventive measure against HIV transmission.

Cyclosporine is the experimental drug used in the study, which is used widely to prevent organ rejection in transplant patients that suppresses the immune response. This same drug also showed capability to block the replication of HIV and other viruses but is not used to treat infection patients due to negative effects on the immune system.

So he and his team decided to modify the drug to create a new version which is designed to block the two cloaking molecules' effect without suppressing any immune response.

Naturally, the immune system uses an 'alarm system' incorporated among all cells inside the body which alerts whenever a 'foreign' material is found. Once the alarm has been activated, immune cells begin to eliminate the foreign material to protect the body from infection.

HIV under the influence of the modified drug will lose its 'cloaking' powers and trigger immune response upon detection of a 'foreign material' which sends out an antiviral team to close in the viral particle.

The difficulty on implementing effective ways to treat HIV/AIDS isn't about drug creation and innovation but is affected by cost per drug and growing threat of drug resistance, making the virus survive.

Experts are now consolidating everything from research and development to reaching the masses, so HIV treatment can become effective to eradicate the AIDS pandemic.