Radioactive Antibodies

Conventional HIV therapies have resulted in fewer deaths and longer life spans. But as people live longer with HIV, there need to be more therapy choices available to them. We all know that eventually, HIV resistance makes therapies less effective. Over time, HIV medication resistance can eliminate all available conventional therapies, leaving the patient without further treatment choices. For this reason, it is important that scientists look past conventional ways to fight the virus. The following information details the work of three research teams not afraid to look outside the box for the next HIV therapy.

Radioactive Antibodies

For many years, cancer patients have been treated with radioactive substances in hopes of shrinking their cancer and extending their lives. Now nuclear medicine specialists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine are studying radioactive antibodies and their ability to kill HIV. So far the results have been favorable. In their studies using HIV-infected mice, researchers attached two radioactive isotopes to the antibodies that normally attach to proteins found on the surface of HIV-infected cells. By attaching only to HIV infected cells, the lethal radiation killed the infected cells while leaving the healthy, functioning CD4 cells unharmed. By killing infected cells, HIV replication is slowed or halted, which in turn may slow the progression from HIV to AIDS. In the case of this study, researchers are now looking for a pharmaceutical sponsor that is interested in taking trials to the next step - developing an FDA-approved therapy against HIV.