Israeli Treatment 'Enables Recovery Of Immune System' In HIV

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(Jerusalem) Israeli researchers say they have made a major breakthrough in helping the bodies of people with HIV/AIDS "recover" their immune systems.

Researchers from Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem have developed a new medication to significantly strengthen the body's immune system against the autoimmune aftereffects of HIV infection according the researchers report.

Even with widespread use of antiretrovirals which kills the virus, the immune system continues to kill healthy cells

But, the Hadassah researchers have discovered that there is an autoimmune process that continues unabated despite the fact that the patient is taking the cocktail, the university said in a statement late Tuesday.

The vaccine that the Hadassah scientists developed stops the continuation of the autoimmune process.

It was based on the hypothesis that in addition to HIV causing AIDS by invading and killing CD4 blood cells, HIV causes the body’s central immune system to start killing these cells independently of the virus as a consequence of an autoimmune process, the university said.

For most AIDS patients, the central immune system does not recover even if the HIV virus is almost eliminated through treatment with the cocktail of medications. The Hadassah vaccine was designed to stop the continuation of the autoimmune process.

Seven patients participated in the study. Each received between three and four injections in a six-month period. Five of the seven patients responded positively to the vaccine developed by the research team.

"Our aim was not to prevent infection by the virus but to strengthen the immune system and use our vaccination treatment as a complement to the antiviral medication (HAART)", said Dr. Rivka Abulafia-Lapid, the lead researcher on the team.

The researchers are continuing to develop the vaccine. The next phase is extended clinical trials