New immune treatment may control AIDS virus

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new type of treatment that trains immune system cells to better recognize the AIDS virus may help control the deadly and incurable infection, Australian researchers reported on Friday.

Tests on monkeys infected with a similar virus shows the treatment controlled the infection, although it does not cure it, and tests are already planned in people.

The treatment is called OPAL, for Overlapping Peptide-pulsed Autologous Cells, and would be categorized as an immunotherapy technique, or a so-called therapeutic vaccine, Stephen Kent of the University of Melbourne and colleagues said.

Writing in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Pathogens, they said the treatment involves mixing a patient's own blood cells with tiny bits of protein from the virus.

These cells are then re-infused into the patient.

"Levels of virus in vaccinated monkeys were 10-fold lower than in controls, and this was durable for over one year after the initial vaccinations," they wrote.

"The immunotherapy resulted in fewer deaths from AIDS. We conclude this is a promising immunotherapy technique. Trials in HIV-infected humans of OPAL therapy are planned."

The AIDS virus infects more than 33 million people globally and has killed 25 million since it was identified in the 1980s.