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Scientists from the Queensland
Institute of Medical Research say they have made a breakthrough that could lead
to a potential cure for AIDS.
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."
More than 30,000 people have been
diagnosed with HIV in Australia.
If clinical trials are successful,
one treatment could be effective enough to replace the multiple therapies they
currently need.
"Drug therapy targets
individual enzymes or proteins and they have one drug, one protein,"
Associate Professor Harrich said.
"They have to take two or three
drugs, so this would be a single agent that essentially has the same effect.
"So in that respect, this is a
world-first agent that's able to stop HIV with a single agent at multiple steps
of the virus life cycle."
He says the new treatment has the
potential to make big improvements in the quality of life for those carrying
HIV.
"I think what people are
looking for is basically a means to go on and live happy and productive lives
with as little intrusion as possible," he said.
"You either have to eliminate
the virus infection or alternatively you have to eliminate the disease process
and that's what this could do, potentially for a very long time."
Professor Harrich says animal trials
are due to start this year and early indications are positive.
"This particular study is going
to have some hurdles to jump through, but so far every test that we have put
this protein through has passed with flying colours," he said.
"This particular year we're
moving this into animal models, and based on the preliminary data we have done
we expect that this will proceed really quickly."
The research is published in the
journal Human Gene Therapy.
