Groundbreaking HIV Research Offers New Hope

Each year, more than 120,000 babies around the world acquire HIV, a devastating diagnosis that can lead to a lifetime of treatment and management. However, a new study published in Nature Microbiology offers a glimmer of hope for a future where HIV infection is a thing of the past.

Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have discovered that a triple treatment approach, administered to newborn primates within three days of birth, can completely clear the virus. This breakthrough finding has sent shockwaves through the scientific community, with experts hailing it as a potential game-changer in the fight against HIV.

The triple treatment consists of three different therapies: neutralizing antibodies, standard antiretroviral therapy, and an experimental monoclonal antibody called leronlimab. While each of these therapies has been tested individually before, none have been able to permanently clear the virus. However, when combined, they appear to become much more powerful, with the triple treatment effectively ‘turning off the faucet,’ ‘mopping up’ the virus, and ‘sealing off’ its ability to infect immune cells.

‘The really exciting part is that it could go to clinical trials immediately to eliminate HIV infection in newborns,’ said co-lead author Jonah Sacha, Ph.D. ‘The next step after that is to test if this can work in newly exposed adults.’

For years, Sacha has been working on developing leronlimab, an experimental monoclonal antibody that blocks the surface protein CCR5, which HIV commonly uses to enter immune cells. His longtime OHSU colleague and coauthor Nancy Haigwood, Ph.D., believed that pairing leronlimab with existing HIV therapies could prove more effective.

‘We were astounded and overjoyed, actually,’ Haigwood said. ‘It’s a remarkable result.’

Before the triple treatment can become widely available, it would first need to be tested in human clinical trials. The researchers expect those initial studies would most likely involve adults who were recently exposed to HIV. If successful, the strategy could eventually offer a new way to combat an HIV epidemic that still kills about 600,000 people worldwide every year.

Researchers do not yet know exactly why the combined treatment worked so well. However, they believe that the triple treatment may be particularly powerful when given very early after infection. ‘There’s a lot more going on during the first week of infection than we previously thought,’ Haigwood said. ‘From this experiment, it looks like there’s a dynamic interaction between the virus and antibodies that takes place as the virus begins to spread.’

The researchers now want to determine how long that early treatment window might remain open. In this study, the combined regimen was tested only within 72 hours of the initial infection. ‘We only tested out to three days,’ Sacha said. ‘Could it work a week after infection? Two weeks? How far can you go after infection, and still purge the virus?’ Answering those questions could reveal whether the treatment remains effective when given later, potentially expanding the number of people who could benefit from the approach.