Dr. Ravi Gupta works at the University of North Carolina.
AB Wire
An Indian American scientist, Dr. Ravi Gupta, and a Sri Lankan American scientist, Dr. Nilu Goonetilleke, from the University of North Carolina, are among a team of researchers that also includes members from the University of Oxford and University College London to have done a remarkable research on HIV/AIDS, the result of which would get them closer to find a cure for HIV.
The researchers studied a 59-year-old London man, HIV patient with ‘elite controller’. According to Gupta, the patient’s immune system is rare because it allows him to live without treatment for a longer period of time than of those who don’t have the ‘elite controller’, reported University Herald.
The single-patient study identifies the immune cells responsible for fighting HIV infection. The rare individual will someday need the treatment since HIV is slowly hitting on immune systems but the ability to have ‘elite controller’ will delay the infection process. The UCL News reported that the subject also has bone marrow cancer, myeloma, that is said to lower down the immune system levels after being removed. Using stem cell transplant, the HIV level turns out to decline.
Furthermore, Gupta explains that albeit interpreting from a single person study, it is the rare patient that helps them the most in understanding the disease and finding the possible cures. The study author, who previously spoke to Reuters of the expensive price of second-line drugs, expressed his concern on the available medications. They might have more side effects for the HIV patients.
The study also finds that human’s immune system can be as potent as drug cocktails. Although the quest to find HIV cure is still long, the team believes that this study leads to the right path. They have learned that vaccine will respond to a typical immune cell – which the medication should be induced in.
Goonetilleke explained how HIV-1 is controlled using immune system. The response of the immune system types will determine where the vaccination should be targeting, reported University Herald.
The team has not concluded the research yet since the result is still questionable; whether it can kill the virus in some ways. Nevertheless, the promising result is translated to optimism for HIV patients albeit another decade to perfect the result.