Booster shot of Immune cells could help HIV patients

At the Fifth International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection, Dr. Ronald Mitsuyasu, director of the University of California Los Angeles AIDS Research and Education Center, said that the Standard HIV therapy could get a boost from a shot of immune cells. U.S. researchers say the injection of the immune booster interleukin-2 (IL-2) increases the number of immune system helper cells, called CD4 T-cells.

It is these CD4 cells are the ones attacked by HIV. Having more of them helps a patient fight the virus. Increased numbers of these cells is also generally associated with better health in HIV patients.

This finding may lead to a new method in the treatment of HIV + patients.

Mitsuyasu's team added IL-2 to the drug cocktails of 164 patients. Fifty-five other patients got the drug cocktail alone. The patients who received the combination therapy had a dramatic increase in new CD4 cells. The researchers also found the patients who received the booster had fewer episodes of AIDS-related illnesses, such as Kaposi's sarcoma, lymphoma and pneumonia.

The treatment is nearing the final stages of approval.

The booster injection technique has been licensed to Chiron Corp. of California. The company is planning an international Phase III trial for the IL-2 treatment, the last stage of patient testing before a company seeks U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for a drug.

From : CBC Front Page

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