Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and a Principal Investigator at the Institute of Bioscience and Technology Research came up with a novel treatment of HIV that involves the usage of bioengineered antibodies. More specifically speaking, these bioengineered antibodies are called broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs), and have been shown prior to help reduce HIV infection in the early phases of infection. The current treatment for HIV infection revolves around the usage of combination drugs or the usage of multiple antiretroviral drugs that target specific processes in the retrovirus such as the integrase or the CCR5 co-receptor.
One of the negatives of these new bNAbs is the fact that they are not associated with the long-time reduction in HIV viral load levels, given some properties of retroviruses such as HIV that involve a high mutation rate. However, the new novel bi-Nab (a bi-specific antibody that is the combination of two bNAbs) has proven to be 95% effective in neutralizing existing circulating HIV-1 virus, where the antibody was tested on 208 HIV strains that are prevalent in humans. Furthermore, a tri-Nab has been synthesized, where it has been found to inhibit 99.5% of circulating HIV! Wow!
Such a finding certainly opens new doors in terms of treating HIV and developing novel combination treatments that would probably prove to be the most effective treatment for HIV to date.
-Daniel Gutierrez
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