An anti-cancer immunotherapy treatment could be used to “awaken” HIV hidden in latently infected cells, enabling current HIV drugs to more thoroughly kill the virus, according to a study published this week in Nature Communications. The research was performed by scientists at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Center (CRCHUM).
In spite of the great advances that have been made in treating HIV with triple therapy, virus hidden in cells remains a barrier to total eradication. This forces individuals infected with HIV to take antiretrovirals for the rest of their lives to avoid the development of AIDS.
In 2016, a researcher in the CRCHUM laboratory showed that cells housing persistent viral stores have three immunological characteristics: the proteins PD-1, LAG-3, and TIGIT are frequently expressed on their surface. All three of these molecules are targets for anti-cancer immunotherapies.
In the current study, the researchers sought to evaluate the effects of these anti-cancer immunotherapies on HIV reservoirs. In cells isolated from patients infected with HIV, the researchers observed an immunotherapy targeting these molecules to reduce the amount of persistent virus in people treated with triple therapy.
The researchers also presented data from a patient infected with HIV who received immunotherapy for a melanoma. "The size of the patient's HIV reservoirs decreased significantly, which is encouraging. However, we must remain cautious, because this doesn't work with all patients. These treatments also cause considerable side effects," said Rémi Fromentin, a research associate at CRCHUM and co-author of the paper. The researchers expect clinical trials currently underway on patients with cancer and HIV could provide further data on the effectiveness of such treatments.