HIV Cure News: Clinical Trial Set for Babies Born With Infection, Gene Therapy Also Shows Promise
ByFor the second time ever, a baby born with HIV has apparently been cured thanks to aggressive treatment immediately after birth and now a clinical trial is on the way.
According to the New York Times, scientists at an AIDS conference in Boston detailed Tuesday how drug treatment within a baby's first 48 hours of life can wipe out HIV. The scientists said a clinical trial involving 60 babies born with the infection will start soon and will require the researchers to track them for years after their birth.
If the trial is successful, treatment for 250,000 babies around the world born with HIV every year will dramatically change.
"This could lead to major changes, for two reasons," Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, executive director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told the NYT. "Both for the welfare of the child, and because it is a huge proof of concept that you can cure someone if you can treat them early enough."
According to CNN, the baby girl was born in Long Beach, Calif. and doctors administered high doses of antiretroviral drugs just four hours after birth. The case is very similar to a baby from last year born in Mississippi. Doctors reported then, three years into the baby's life, the immediate antiretroviral treatment has apparently kept the child HIV-free.
The Calif. baby is still on her drug treatment, so it has yet to be seen if she will be in remission, but early sings are promising.
"This has to be done in a clinical trial setting, because really the only way we can prove that we've accomplished remission in these cases is by taking them off treatment, and that's not without risks," Dr. Deborah Persaud, a virologist with Johns Hopkins Children's Center, said during the AIDS conference in Boston.
Another treatment gaining traction is gene therapy. For those who already have the virus, scientists at the University of Pennsylvania are working on a Phase 1 trial with 12 people who are HIV positive.
For their study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers remove a patient's T-cells, white blood cells that fight viral infections, and process, multiplied and tested before being reinserted into the patient. The objective is to strengthen the patient's own internal defenses against the infection.
"It's very solid, elegant science," Fauci told Reuters. "There is a strong suggestion that cells that are generated are less susceptible to dying."