Paris--Researchers said Wednesday a lab-manufactured antibody "significantly" reduced HIV blood levels in a small but promising human trial, and caused no harmful side effects
The virus-suppressing action did not appear to last, however, and some patients developed resistance to the agent, said the authors of the research published by Nature.
This meant the designer molecule dubbed 3BNC117 may be best used in combination with other drugs, said the team -- while highlighting the promise of a new, immunotherapy-based approach to fighting HIV.
"This represents potentially a new class of drugs with activity against HIV," study co-author Marina Caskey of New York's Rockefeller University told AFP.
"It is possible that 3BNC117 and antibodies like it will boost the patient's own immune responses, leading to better control of their infection."
So-called monoclonal antibodies like 3BNC117 which are cloned from a single parent immune cell, hold the promise of actually killing HIV-infected cells.
Currently, cocktails of antiretroviral drugs are used merely to suppress replication of the virus for which no cure or vaccine exists.
Antibodies remain active in the body for longer than daily-dose antivirals, said the scientists, and may be administered with longer intervals in between, perhaps once every few months.
The new agent, cloned from a cell taken from an HIV-positive person, was given to 12 uninfected volunteers and 17 infected with HIV.
Each received a single, intravenous shot in doses ranging from 1 to 30 milligrammes per kilogramme of bodyweight, and were monitored for 56 days.
All eight individuals given the highest dose showed "up to 300-fold decreases" in the amount of virus in their blood, said the US-German research team.
The viral load was lowest about a week after treatment, and remained "significantly reduced" for 28 days.
AFP
