Five children infected with the AIDS virus do not need drugs to fight it.
Five minors who were infected with HIV before birth and in whom, despite stopping antiretroviral treatment, the virus remains undetectable in their blood. The discovery, published in the journal Nature Medicine, is based on the observation of 284 newborns in South Africa who were treated from birth.
The study, conducted by the University of Oxford in collaboration with IrsiCaixa, highlights that these five exceptional cases are due to the fact that the HIV present in their body has less ability to replicate and is more sensitive to the innate immune response, especially interferon.
The team also noticed differences between the sexes: while 60% of the newborns analyzed were girls, the five exceptional control cases were boys. These factors, along with other characteristics of the innate immune system, differ between men and women, which may explain why the five exceptional cases identified were from children.
Evidence suggests that when antiretroviral treatment is started early after birth, spontaneous viral control may be achieved in some children, and that this control appears to be associated with biological differences between the sexes.
According to Javier Martinez-Picadoresearcher from IrsiCaixa, understanding these mechanisms is key to developing future HIV treatment strategies.
In a study published in the journal Nature Medicine, the team has already seen that boys are born with greater natural resistance to HIV compared to girls. This study found that this disparity between the sexes is due to lower levels of activated CD4 T cells in male fetuses, making it more difficult for the virus to survive. CD4 T cells are critical to the immune system and are targeted by HIV during infection. With fewer of these cells, HIV spreads more slowly.
Research now shows that viruses transmitted to male newborns are more sensitive to interferon, making it easier for the immune system to control.
Recovery
This finding reinforces the need to develop HIV treatment strategies that take into account biological differences between the sexes in order to develop more effective treatments for each group.
Currently, only 58% of children with HIV worldwide have access to adequate antiretroviral treatment.
Findings like this study offer hope for the development of treatments that can take advantage of the innate immune system to control the virus without the need for ongoing treatment, representing significant progress in the fight to find a definitive cure for HIV. in the child population.