New trial hints at a possible HIV cure approach: Wake up latent virus hiding in the body, then kill it

A new treatment for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can drive the virus out of its hiding spots in the body, an early clinical trial finds. That, in turn, raises hopes these reservoirs of HIV could then be wiped out.

The treatment isn't enough to cure HIV on its own. But the new results, published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases on Feb. 13, hint that it could be possible to use this strategy as a step toward curing a person of HIV.

"This is not a home run," said study leader Dr. David Margolis, a professor of medicine, microbiology and immunology, and epidemiology at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Chapel Hill School of Medicine.

"Clearly we need better tools, better drugs, better approaches," he said, "but it does suggest that this strategy itself is deserving of more work."

Related: We could end the AIDS epidemic in less than a decade. Here's how.

HIV in hiding

With modern antiretroviral drugs, doctors can prevent HIV from spreading from cell-to-cell inside the body, allowing people with the infection to live normal lives. Many achieve undetectable viral loads, meaning they cannot transmit HIV to others via sex.

But HIV is a retrovirus, meaning it incorporates its genetic code into cells' DNA and hides out indefinitely, creating a viral reservoir that can retrigger a full-blown infection at any time. To stop an HIV infection from progressing to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), people with HIV must stay on antiretroviral drugs for life.