HIV Cure: Interferon, Soy Sauce And Daily Prevention Pill Going Against AIDS

Medical scientists are currently exploring innovative ways to prevent and combat HIV, the AIDS-causing virus. New studies are ongoing for clinical trials with Interferon, secret chemical in soy sauce and implementation of daily HIV prevention pill to further control the spread of HIV.

Interferon For HIV Treatment

HIV Researcher Luis Montaner at Wistar Institute in Philadephia seeks to get 54 individuals for a trial before the year ends. Montaner is targeting the Wistar trial which suggested Interferon on reducing viral reservoir based on a study in 2011.

Around 20 patients participated on the Wistar trial who were under continued treatment of Interferon and antiretroviral drugs for 5 weeks. Afterwhich, participants stopped taking ARTs but continued to receive Interferon injections in the next 24 weeks.

Normally, an HIV patient who stopped taking ARTs will have increased viral reservoirs as HIV begins to replicate again. But nine patients in Wistar trial did not suffer the same fate as they managed to suppress the virus for several months by relying on Interferon injections only.

Surprisingly, blood samples from seven out of the nine patients revealed that they did not only suppress the viral reservoirs but also reduced it as test results confirmed less HIV in their system.

Wistar Institute will begin clinical trials for 54 participants using the $7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, according to Philly.

Soy Sauce vs. HIV

Recently, soy sauce, a famous condiment, revealed an interesting chemical which may unlock an effective treatment against HIV. Japanese soy sauce producer Yamasa discovered EFdA or 4'-ethynyl-2-fluoro-2'-deoxyadenosine as a flavor enhancer on its soy sauce product which has been recognized as a part of group of compounds used on drugs to treat HIV and other viruses.

Study showed EFdA becomes part of nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) which are a backbone of most HIV drugs used today. NRTIs seize the virus from spreading by faking the reverse transcriptase enzyme.

Although an unbelievable source of EFdA, virologists at the Bond Life Sciences Centre backed up the findings and revealed that the chemical is 70 times more powerful in fighting HIV than Tenovir, the most commonly used anti-HIV drug.

Stefan Sarafianos, a virologist at Bond LSC, Michael Parniak, a biochemist at the University of Pittsburg and Hiroaki Mitsuya of the National Institutes of Health are now working on EFdA and their 2012 test results showed that the drug based from the flavor enhancer can deliver equivalent HIV cure in monkeys.

Daily HIV Pill

For many years, condom is the primary method to prevent contraction and spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. But new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) as a daily regimen for people with high risk of contracting the virus.

According to studies, PrEP can reduce infection rates by more than 90 percent if taken daily by individuals at high risk. Based on the guidelines, here are the factors considered as "high risks."

Truvada is a pill which combines two antiretroviral drugs to prevent HIV and was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2012. It was the first approved in 2004 as an HIV treatment and still the only FDA-approved medication for PrEP. However, Truvada costs $1,300 to $1,700 monthly that can be covered by insurance.