Cure for HIV/AIDS: New Protein based Drug can Suppress Virus without ART Treatment for AIDS

HIV/AIDS cure is still a long way for development but new developments are happening to combat the epidemic in different ways. A permanent cure which eliminates HIV entirely from a human’s immune system is yet to be developed. But several methods like ART has been perfected which can increase the life span of infected patients.

However, it is not a permanent solution as the infected person has to undergo ART throughout his or her life. There are researches carried out by doctor and scientists all over the world and we are getting closer each day. The latest development is a protein-based drug which can suppress the effect of AIDS even after ART and other meds are discontinued.

Protein Based Drug Method

There is a breakthrough at the research facility of the Galveston branch in the University of Texas Medical. A new protein has been designed to combat HIV and increase the life span of AIDS affected patients. While the protein might not completely cure HIV, it can suppress its effects even without opting for ART based drugs.

Rick Young: How can condensates benefit the therapeutic field? Med1, BRD4 and others can concentrate drugs like cisplatin or THZ1 into droplets in vitro and colocalize into large condensates in vivo (regardless of whether direct target is in droplet) #moet2019

— Tjian + Darzacq Group (@TjianDarzacq) August 29, 2019

Ecstatic to share a first author position on this article !
Dynamic Chromatin Targeting of BRD4 Stimulates Cardiac Fibroblast Activation | Circulation Research https://t.co/vHljetvQcF#Epigenetics #CardiacFibroblasts #MckinseyLab @CUAnschutz @UManAlumni @CircRes

— Rushita Bagchi, PhD (@rush6782) August 21, 2019

AZA: Generation of synthetic transcription elongation factors. Using polyamide approach coupled to JQ1 to recruit Brd4 and PTEF-b. And indeed the engineered factor can lead to a gene-specific pause release. #moet2019

— Lucas Farnung (@LucasFarnung) August 30, 2019

For those who don’t know, when ART medicines are used, the virus for AIDS undergoes a dormant state, but it grows back as soon as they are stopped. Also, there are chances that HIV may develop a resistance to the ART drugs and hence the whole thing can start over. The new research focuses on a BRD4 protein which could suppress the virus. There have been also reports of combining the ZL0580 protein with the ART meds and the virus was suppressed much faster.

Future Research and Development

HIV/AIDS is one of the biggest diseases in the whole world without a cure. Researches have been going for decades to find a solution or cure the epidemic. UNAIDS campaign focuses on ending AIDS in 2020 in three ways: early detection, ART treatment, and virus suppression.

As of 2018, more than 37 million people were found to be affected with AIDS and out that only 62 percent have access to ART treatments. The whole thing is too costly and everyone can’t afford. Hopefully, the protein-based treatment can fill the gap and every HIV/AIDS patient can get access to it.

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