Boston: The second HIV patient in the world whose body seems to have removed itself from the virus without using antiretroviral drugs has been identified, scientists said on Tuesday.
The findings, published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, showed that untreated people, known as Esperanza patients, living with HIV did not have evidence of intact viral genomes in more than 1.5 billion blood cells and tissues.
The international team noted that if the immune mechanism underlying this response can be understood by researchers, they might be able to develop care that teaches other people’s immune systems to emulate this response in the case of HIV infection.
During infection, HIV places a copy of the genome into the DNA or cell genetic material, creates what is known as viral reservoir, the researchers said.
In this situation, viruses effectively hide anti-HIV drugs and body immune responses, they said.
In most people, new virus particles are constantly made from this reservoir.
Anti-retroviral therapy (art) can prevent new viruses from being made but cannot eliminate the reservoir, requiring daily care to suppress viruses.
The researchers noted that some people, known as elite controllers, had an immune system that could suppress HIV without the need for drugs.
Even though they still have a viral reservoir that can produce more HIV viruses, the type of immune cells called t killer cells make the virus pressed without the need for drugs, they say.
In previous studies, scientists identified one patient who did not have the order of the intact HIV virus in its genome, indicating that the immune system might have eliminated HIV reservoir – what scientists call sterilization drugs.
These findings, the first incident of healing sterilization without stem cell transplantation, was reported in 2020.