HIV Cure Expected 'Within Months', Danish Scientists Say, After Failed Vaccine Study In U.S.

Danish Scientists said on Monday that they believe they will find the cure to the deadly HIV virus, the early form of AIDS, 'within months.'

This announcement came just days after the U.S. government said that it is halting a large study for the creation of an AIDS vaccine that seemingly failed, according to NY Daily News.  The vacine was clinically tested on 2,500 people, including mostly gay men, in 19 cities, medicine.net reports.  A safety review found that slightly more people who had received the vaccine later became infected with HIV, although the reason behind this remains unclear.

Researchers at the Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark are in the clinical trial period as they test a 'novel strategy' in which they stip the HIV virus of its human DNA in order to allow it to be destroyed by the immune system, according to the Telegraph.  This is a dramatic step forward toward discovering the cure.

The Danish team's research is among the most advanced and fast moving in the world, the Telegraph reports.  This is because they have streamlined the process of putting the latest basic science discoveries into clinical testing, allowing researchers to progress more quickly to clinical trials, accelerating the process and reaching reliable results sooner than many others.

This new approach involves the release of the HIV virus from 'reservoirs' that it forms inside DNA and bringing it to the surface of the cell, the Teleghaph reports.  It used a very strong for of these drugs called HDAC Inhibitors, which are more commonly used in treating cancer, to drive out the HIV from a patient's DNA.  This allows the body's natural immune system, which is boosted by a 'vaccine,' to have access to the virus in order to kill it off.  

This tactic has been found to work in laboratory tests and, after being awarded a large sum of money by the the Danish Research Council in January, the scientists are now conducting human trials in order to ensure that it will be effective in real-life circumstances, the Telegraph reports.  15 patients are currently taking part in these trials, and if any of them prove successfully cured, the the tests will be used on a larger scale and aided by an immune system booster.

Dr Ole Søgaard, a senior researcher at the Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark and part of the research team, says that early signs are "promising," according to the Telegraph.  "I am almost certain that we will be successful in releasing the reservoirs of HIV," he said.  "The challenge will be getting the patients' immune system to recognize the virus and destroy it. This depends on the strength and sensitivity of individual immune systems."

This modern treatment could allow a patient to live an almost normal life with limited side affects, even into old age according to the Telegraph.  It would free a patient from the constant need to take continuous HIV medication and would save health services a great deal of money.  If the medication is stopped, however, HIV reservoirs would become active again and start to produce more of the virus, meaning that symptoms could reappear within two weeks.

Dr Søgaard explained that this new 'cure' is not the same as a preventative vaccine, and that it is important to continue to educate and create awareness about unsafe behaviors that may lead to to HIV, such as unprotected sex and sharing needles, the Telegraph reports.

This technique is also being researched collaboratively at five different universities in Britain, but it has not yet moved into the clinical trial stage, according to NY Daily News.  At these locations researchers are focusing particularly on people who have been recently diagnosed with HIV.

More than 1.1 million people in the United States are living with HIV infection, of which almost 1 in 5 (18.1%) are unaware of their infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), NewsMax reports.  These studies will have a very large scale impact if they prove successful.