Big news from Down Under where scientists at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research announce a breakthrough that could become a cure for AIDS. Details follow. 

From ABC News Australia:

Associate Professor David Harrich says they have discovered how to modify a protein in HIV so that, instead of replicating, it protects against the infection.

"I consider that this is fighting fire with fire," he said.

"What we've actually done is taken a normal virus protein that the virus needs to grow, and we've changed this protein, so that instead of assisting the virus, it actually impedes virus replication and does it quite strongly."

Associate Professor Harrich says the modified protein cannot cure HIV but it has protected human cells from AIDS in the laboratory.

"This therapy is potentially a cure for AIDS," he said.

"So it's not a cure for HIV infection, but it potentially could end the disease.

"So this protein present in immune cells would help to maintain a healthy immune system so patients can handle normal infections."

The researchers are hoping upcoming clinical trials of their treatment will show that a single agent can do what multiple daily drugs currently achieve for the HIV positive. Head to Australia's ABC News for a video interview with one of the scientists involved with the discovery. 

Comments (1)

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written by LKeels, January 17, 2013

Okay, I wish these people would get their stuff worded properly. You can't cure AIDS, because AIDS itself is not a disease. AIDS is the final stage of HIV infection, at which point the body becomes susceptible to a host of other diseases because the immune system is severely compromised. At this stage, even if you removed HIV from the patient's system, so much damage has been done that a recovery would be unlikely.

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