Advancements in HIV Treatment: From Fatal to Manageable

HIV research has led to ART and PrEP, making HIV a manageable condition, with breakthroughs impacting treatments for other diseases like COVID-19 and cancer.

Highlights:

ART and PrEP have revolutionized HIV treatment and prevention
Latent HIV reservoirs challenge the pursuit of a cure
HIV research has influenced treatments for COVID-19 and cancer

In the early 1980s, Bruce Walker, a physician-scientist saw cases that would later be described as AIDS resulting from the HIV virus. For more than forty years, the development of the HIV and AIDS has changed the virus from a death sentence to a chronic disease. That advancement has not only enhanced millions of lives but also provided information that has lengthened treatments for other diseases such as COVID19 and cancer ().

AIDS/HIV- Clinical Features
Encyclopedia section of medindia gives general info about HIV Clinical Features

‘Did You Know?
ART can reduce HIV transmission risks to nearly 0%, helping individuals live longer lives. #medindia #hiv’

Understanding the Molecular Structure of HIV & AIDS

The Discovery of HIV as a human retrovirus was discovered was a huge milestone. The nature of the virus, its biology, and how it impacts different immune cells were revealed by scientist and researchers especially from the Harvard Medical School. Major findings like the mode by which HIV/ AIDS insert its gene into the host DNA has been a great improvement on knowledge about the disease and finding out ways of combating the disease, probably by injecting new genes into the body.

Scientists like Stephen Harrison, Joseph Sodroski and Engelman Alan helped in the understanding of the virus outer coat or protein envelope — that is crucial in issues to do with its entry into cells and replication.

Antiretroviral Therapy for HIV Treatment
Antiretroviral therapy for HIV treatment helps to restore the functions of the immune system and prolongs the lifespan of the patient

Advancements in HIV Treatment

ART and PrEP Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has brought a real change in HIV treatment. Various HIV drugs work at different stages of the HIV life cycle that makes it possible for ART to enable people to regulate the virus. If taken as prescribed with a strict regimen ART can suppress the viral load to a point where viral replication cannot occur and subsequent transmission hazards significantly decrease while patients have near-normal life expectancies.

Antiretroviral prophylactic medication has also turned around HIV prevention especially through PrEP. The antiretroviral medications for ART stop the spread of HIV in case one is taking them when one has a negative status of HIV at 99%. More recently, newer prevention modalities such as long-acting injectable drugs like lenacapavir are available, which afford protection for a period of six months after bi-monthly injections.

Challenges of HIV Persistence

Nevertheless, HIV is still a difficult case since it has a capability to integrate itself in the long-lived, inactive CD4 T cells. These dormant seeds may germinate anytime and start viral replication and persistent inflammation, which may contribute to other diseases. Several scholars like Daniel Kuritzkes are working to discover approaches to eradicate such silent sources that can be the key to eradicating HIV.

HIV research has not only revolutionised clinical management of HIV and AIDS but also laid the foundation in understanding immunology and developing cure for other diseases.

Reference:

How HIV research has reshaped modern medicine - (https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2024/11/how-hiv-research-has-reshaped-modern-medicine/)

Source-Medindia