Keytruda against AIDS

An approved cancer drug has the potential to cure HIV

Svetlana Maslova, Hi-tech+

In pilot clinical studies, scientists have shown that an affordable drug helps to remove HIV from hidden reservoirs so that the immune system can attack it. These HIV shelters are the main reason for the impossibility of a complete cure and now there is hope to fix it.

Today, HIV-infected patients must constantly take antiretroviral therapy (ART) to reduce the viral load to an undetectable virus. Meanwhile, HIV persists in hidden reservoirs and at any moment, if treatment is stopped, it can become active and begin replication. Removing HIV from hidden reservoirs has been the Holy Grail for scientists for many years.

In a new paper, (Uldrick et al. Pembrolizumab induces HIV latency reversal in people living with HIV and cancer on antiretroviral therapy / Science Translational Medicine – VM) an international group of researchers has shown that the drug pembrolizumab (Keytruda), approved for the treatment of melanoma in 2014, has potential efficacy in this regard.

Pilot clinical studies were carried out due to the fact that scientists found 32 patients who had cancer and HIV at the same time, so they were prescribed pembrolizumab. The course of treatment was 105 weeks (pembrolizumab was administered every three weeks), during which blood tests and HIV levels were regularly analyzed.

After the first injection of the drug, HIV genetic material was found in the patients' blood.

This means that the drug displaced the virus from hidden reservoirs and again made it vulnerable to antiretroviral treatment and the immune system.

So far, this is only proof of the concept and potential of pembrolizumab for the cure of HIV. The drug has a large number of side effects, so now scientists intend to evaluate the low dosages of the drug against the virus. To this end, clinical studies will be conducted on people without cancer, but with HIV-positive status. According to the authors, the results are likely to be more successful, since in this case cancer will not be able to "pull the blanket over itself" and weaken the effectiveness of HIV treatment.

Previously, scientists were able to prove that HIV is curable using mouse models. With the help of an experimental drug, they achieved 100% "cleansing" of the virus from the body of rodents.

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