A one-time combination of three HIV therapies completely eliminated the virus in newborn primates treated within days of infection, raising hopes for a future strategy that could prevent lifelong treatment.
Researchers at Oregon Health and Science University found that a regimen combining antiretroviral drugs, broadly neutralising antibodies, and the experimental antibody leronlimab cleared HIV in newborn nonhuman primates when administered within the first 72 hours after exposure.
The findings, published in Nature Microbiology, surprised even the scientists involved because none of the three treatments had previously been able to permanently eliminate the virus when used alone.
More than 120,000 babies acquire HIV worldwide each year, and most people living with the virus require lifelong medication to keep it under control. The new study suggests there may be a brief window early in infection when HIV is particularly vulnerable to a coordinated therapeutic attack.
Researchers believe each treatment targets the virus differently. Antiretroviral drugs suppress viral replication; broadly neutralising antibodies help clear circulating virus, and leronlimab blocks CCR5, a receptor that HIV commonly uses to enter immune cells.
Together, the therapies appeared to prevent the virus from spreading, infecting new cells, and establishing a lasting reservoir in the body.
The treatment was tested only in newborn nonhuman primates and only within three days of infection, so it is far too early to know whether the approach could cure HIV in humans.
However, researchers say the findings are encouraging because all three components are already available or are being evaluated in human clinical trials.
The next step will be to determine whether the strategy can work in recently infected adults and how long after exposure the treatment remains effective.