Dr Sarah Fidler with student Andrew Broadbent.
Scientists and clinicians from five leading UK universities will begin a groundbreaking trial next year to test a possible cure for HIV infection. Efforts to cure HIV in the past have been thwarted by the virus's ability to lie dormant inside blood cells without being detected. The new therapy combines standard antiretroviral drugs with two new weapons: a drug that reactivates dormant HIV, and a vaccine that induces the immune system to destroy the infected cells. Fifty patients in the early stages of HIV infection will take part in the trial. The researchers hope that within months, the stores of hidden HIV in these patients - called the HIV reservoir - will be significantly reduced. They expect to know the results in 2017. The trial is being conducted by the CHERUB collaboration - an alliance of HIV researchers at Oxford University , Imperial College London , the University of Cambridge , University College London and King's College London.
TO READ THIS ARTICLE, CREATE YOUR ACCOUNT
And extend your reading, free of charge and with no commitment.
