Scientists find out how HIV "turn off" immune cells

[LostInTime]

Article

US scientists said they have discovered how HIV relentlessly wears down the immune cells by exploiting the body built-in protection against autoimmune diseases, according to media reports.

    This understanding of how the virus deactivates the immune cells could lead to methods in overcoming the prevailing handicaps in treating HIV, the scientists feel
[...]
"These new findings finally make sense out of our early discoveries and subsequent findings by others in the field. The immune cells are there, but they have been turned off in persons with high viral loads."

    Rowland-Jones, who wrote a commentary piece accompanying the study in Nature, warns that blocking PD-1 altogether could be dangerous.

[Melissa]

Interesting.  I wonder if something could be developed that worked along the same lines as SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors).

Melissa

[LostInTime]

There was also this breakthrough back in May.  Hopefully both of these developments will allow the world to knock back the virus.