HIV cure: Human antibodies surpass antiretroviral therapies by clearing HIV; Scientists stunned by experiment results

According to UNICEF, United Nation’s children’s organisation, more than 200,000 children were born HIV positive in 2013. Without therapy it is estimated that one-third of the infected babies would not survive till their first birthday and half won’t make it to their second. A new study may change things for the better and even help newly infected adults.

Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University were left stunned by their own research results after they mass-produced human antibodies in a lab and completely eliminated HIV from newborn monkeys.

The study that was published in Nature Medicine revealed that the antibodies were not only able to successfully eliminate HIV that causes AIDS but also clear the virus from the body in just two weeks.

Lead investigator and head of the OHSU primate center, Nancy Haigwood, revealed that human antibodies have never been used in this way before. Antiretroviral drugs have been used by researchers to attack new infections but in most cases the experiments did not return positive results.

This study, however, may have opened doors for alternative therapies that can be extremely effective in preventing babies and children from contracting the deadly infection. Haigwood, after the experiment’s success on rhesus macaques, wants to try it on humans in South Africa and other parts where mother to child HIV transmission rate is high.

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Scientists, after administering the initial dose in the monkeys, injected them again on the fourth, seventh and 10th days. The virus disappeared and never came back once the two-week mark was reached.

There’s yet another important difference between these mass-produced antibodies and antiretroviral drugs. The antibodies are not toxic like the antiretroviral drugs. Drugs almost always have side effects. However, these antibodies were produced by human body, hence they have no side effects.