When the virus infects the human immune system, it uses its cells to look for sugar and nutrients to develop and grow on. So for the experiment, the pathway to the virus' "pantry" was blocked using an experimental compound, leaving the virus to starve to death and disabling reproduction.
According to the study, it showed that the compound could also slow down the growth of abnormally activated immune cells, which scientists believe is the reason why HIV can cause life-long complications such as premature organ damage and excess inflammation.
The study author Harry Taylor, of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine said in a report that the compound could be the precursor for something that would be used in the future as part of a cocktail to treat HIV that improves on the effective medicines we have today.
In Taylor own words, it's essential to find new ways to block HIV growth, because the virus is constantly mutating. He said a drug targeting HIV that works today may be less effective a few years down the road, because HIV can mutate itself to evade the drug.
Scientists believe that the new approach in preventing and stopping HIV is gentler. And Taylor confirmed it by saying that this new approach, which slows the growth of the immune cells, could reduce the dangerous inflammation and thwart the life-long persistence of HIV.
According to a press release by Northwestern University, the idea for the approach came from Taylor's experience while working with colleagues at Vanderbilt University.
There, his colleagues identified a compound that blocks breast cancer cell growth. They then used the compound in an attempt to cut off HIV's ability to use its host cell's nutrient supply.
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