5 ms·

Assuming it could be done, I think you'd activate the reservoir, then bombard the patient with anti-retrovirals until the virus was eradicated?

by jljljl 4y ago

John23832 4y ago
This is correct. You'd just get infected cells in the reservoir to express so that they can be identified and killed. That's what an outbreak is, viral expression. This is similar to how HSV outbreaks work. Your entire body isn't massively infected, the virus is just expressing. People often confuse an "outbreak" with "massive infection".
m0llusk 4y ago
That is an approach being tried for a cure. So far it has not worked. It is not clear exactly why.
jjtheblunt 4y ago
How would that excise the viral sequence from the already rewritten dna in cells previously infected, rather than just slow further new uninflected cells from being infected? The point is, in the presence of a retrovirus with its reverse transcriptase trickery, an organism is a chimera, populated by dna-distinct cells (for example, never infected cells vs cells previously infected and thereby holding modified dna, who would send out new virus during their own replication).
- jljljl 4y ago
  The "assuming it could be done" in my comment referred to "finding a way to force latent cells to release their viral load rather than remaining latent". I'm not an immunologist, but if there was a mechanism, it would probably kill the rewritten cells. Then the released viruses would be eliminated with anti-retrovirals. If this same mechanism kept infected cells from remaining latent, eventually you would clear the virus. So I don't know the answer to your question, but my answer was assuming an answer existed :)
- f6v 4y ago
  Several things come to mind. First, you don’t need to remove viral DNA from cells. Just make them over-express HIV and trigger cytotoxic lymphocytes or antibody-mediated killing. You end up wiping all the infected cells. But then, of course, patient is left with compromised immunity. To solve this, you could make a stem cell transplant from a compatible donor. Alternatively, harvest healthy cells before the treatment and transplant them back after. This is from the top of my had, I’m not an expert in the field.
  - John23832 4y ago
    Your body would eventually replace the Helper T-Cells lost, but yes, we'd probably want to do some mitigation for safety.
    - f6v 4y ago
      > Your body would eventually replace the Helper T-Cells lost With thymus involution?

Assuming it could be done, I think you'd activate the reservoir, then bombard the patient with anti-retrovirals until the virus was eradicated?

by jljljl 4y ago

Assuming it could be done, I think you'd activate the reservoir, then bombard the patient with anti-retrovirals until the virus was eradicated?

John23832 4y ago

This is correct. You'd just get infected cells in the reservoir to express so that they can be identified and killed. That's what an outbreak is, viral expression. This is similar to how HSV outbreaks work. Your entire body isn't massively infected, the virus is just expressing. People often confuse an "outbreak" with "massive infection".

m0llusk 4y ago

That is an approach being tried for a cure. So far it has not worked. It is not clear exactly why.

jjtheblunt 4y ago

How would that excise the viral sequence from the already rewritten dna in cells previously infected, rather than just slow further new uninflected cells from being infected? The point is, in the presence of a retrovirus with its reverse transcriptase trickery, an organism is a chimera, populated by dna-distinct cells (for example, never infected cells vs cells previously infected and thereby holding modified dna, who would send out new virus during their own replication).

jljljl 4y ago
The "assuming it could be done" in my comment referred to "finding a way to force latent cells to release their viral load rather than remaining latent". I'm not an immunologist, but if there was a mechanism, it would probably kill the rewritten cells. Then the released viruses would be eliminated with anti-retrovirals. If this same mechanism kept infected cells from remaining latent, eventually you would clear the virus. So I don't know the answer to your question, but my answer was assuming an answer existed :)
f6v 4y ago
Several things come to mind. First, you don’t need to remove viral DNA from cells. Just make them over-express HIV and trigger cytotoxic lymphocytes or antibody-mediated killing. You end up wiping all the infected cells. But then, of course, patient is left with compromised immunity. To solve this, you could make a stem cell transplant from a compatible donor. Alternatively, harvest healthy cells before the treatment and transplant them back after. This is from the top of my had, I’m not an expert in the field.
- John23832 4y ago
  Your body would eventually replace the Helper T-Cells lost, but yes, we'd probably want to do some mitigation for safety.
  - f6v 4y ago
    > Your body would eventually replace the Helper T-Cells lost With thymus involution?