Cures for HIV
As of 2009, approximately 39.5 million people worldwide are infected with HIV. While there is still no definitive cure for HIV, gene therapy and stem cell transplants appear to be bringing researchers much closer to the day when a cure will be found for this virus that has killed millions since it was first discovered in the early 1980s.
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Antiretroviral Drugs
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There are presently at least 30 drugs, known as antiretrovirals, used to treat HIV. Though no combination of these drugs has yet resulted in a cure for HIV, they are the most common method used to inhibit the virus.
HAART
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Clinical trials are currently being held to determine the effectiveness of treating HIV patients with highly active antiretroviral therapy, or HAART. The vaccine has had some success in studies with monkeys, but it is not yet known if the therapy will result in a cure or a new form of treatment against the virus.
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HIV "Weak Spot"
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In the summer of 2008, HIV researchers from the University of Texas Medical School announced that they had found a "weak spot" in the virus. They discovered one area of the virus that remains constant, allowing the virus to attach itself to so-called "host cells." If the team can successfully alter the makeup of this region of the virus, it will not be able to attach itself, and the change in the virus will trigger the manufacture of antibodies to fight the infection.
Sanctuary Cells
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One aspect of HIV that makes treatment so difficult is the fact that the virus contains a "reservoir" of the virus located within a cell. So as long as one cell remains that contains the virus, it can reappear, even after extensive treatment with antiretrovirals. In the summer of 2009, Canadian researchers discovered that the use of antiretrovirals, followed by what they are calling "intelligent targeted chemotherapy," may provide a means of killing off the sanctuary cells, thereby ridding the body of the virus.
Stem Cell Transplants
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CNN reported in early 2009 that a man, who had suffered from HIV until he received a stem cell transplant in 2007 from a donor whose stem cells contained natural anti-viral properties, still had no signs of the virus two years after the transplant.
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