2024-10-17 10:34:00
Five minors who contracted HIV before birth and who, despite having stopped antiretroviral therapy, still have the virus undetectable in their blood. The discovery, published in ‘Nature medicine‘, is based on the follow-up of 284 newborns in South Africa, all treated from birth.
The study conducted by University of Oxfordwith the collaboration of IrsiCaixaemphasizes that these five exceptional cases are due to the fact that the HIV present in their organism has a lower replication capacity and is more sensitive to the innate immune response, especially to interferon.
The team also observed differences between the sexes: although 60% of the newborns analyzed were girls, the five exceptional control cases were boys. These factors, along with other characteristics of the innate immune system, differ between males and females, which may explain why the five exceptional cases identified involve children.
The data suggest that when antiretroviral treatment is started soon after birth, some children can achieve spontaneous control of the virus and that this control appears to be related to biological differences between the sexes.
Second Javier Martinez-Picadoresearcher at IrsiCaixa, understanding these mechanisms is critical to the development of future HIV treatment strategies.
This team had already found, in a study published in ‘Nature Medicine’, that boys are born with greater natural resistance to HIV than girls. This research highlighted that this gender disparity is due to lower levels of activated CD4 T cells in male fetuses, which makes it difficult for the virus to survive. CD4 T cells are crucial to the immune system and are the target of HIV during infection. With fewer of these cells, HIV spreads more slowly.
The study now suggests that viruses transmitted to male newborns are more sensitive to interferon, making it easier for the immune system to control.
Healing
This finding reinforces the need to address HIV treatment strategies by considering biological differences between sexes, in order to design more effective treatments for each group.
Currently, only 58% of children living with HIV worldwide have access to adequate antiretroviral treatment.
Results like those in this study offer hope for the development of therapies that can harness the advantages of the innate immune system to control the virus without the need for constant treatment, representing a significant advance in the fight to find a definitive cure for HIV in the population childish.
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