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Immune system boost cures HIV mice
By national medical reporter Sophie Scott

Posted 3 hours 27 minutes ago

Map: Melbourne 3000 A group of Australian scientists have been able to cure HIV in mice by boosting their immune systems.

Doctor Marc Pellegrini from Melbourne's Walter and Eliza Hall Institute found a hormone known as Interleukin 7 stimulates the body's response to an infection, causing it to clear the virus.

This process is called immune exhaustion.

"We found that Interleukin 7 boosted the immune response in a pretty profound fashion, such that animals were able to gradually clear the virus without too much collateral tissue damage," Dr Pellegrini said.

"The findings could lead to a cure for chronic viral infections like HIV, hepatitis B and C, and bacterial infections such as tuberculosis."

The aim of the research was to manipulate the immune system to fight off infection.

"Viruses such as HIV and hepatitis B and C overwhelm the immune system, leading to establishment of chronic infections that are lifelong and incurable," Dr Pellegrini said.

"Despite tremendous efforts, long-lived immune responses for some of these viruses are ineffective because the body is so overrun by virus that the immune system - in particular T cells - just give up trying to battle the infection."

The scientists also found that gene SOCS-3 was switched off, which boosted the immune system and allowed the animals to clear the HIV infection.

The findings have been published today in the medical journal, Cell.

Tags: health, diseases-and-disorders, aids-and-hiv, medical-research, science-and-technology, research, australia, vic, melbourne-3000