Researchers at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), McGill University, and other institutions have discovered how the antiviral drug acyclovir suppresses HIV in patients who are also infected with herpes. The study was published in the journal Cell Host and Microbe.
An NIH research team led by Dr. Leonid Margolis made the initial discovery, while Dr. Matthias Gotte, Associate Professor in Biochemical Virology at McGill’s Department of Microbiology and Immunology, along with colleagues at Emory University, helped explain the precise molecular mechanisms.
Though it was long-believed that acyclovir was an ineffective drug against HIV, it was often prescribed to co-infected patients in the hope of indirectly treating HIV by reducing the herpes load. The NIH team discovered that in the presence of herpes virus HHV-6, acyclovir actually attacks HIV directly and is able to suppress its reproduction.
The research team demonstrated that the herpes virus contains an enzyme not present in HIV and it is this enzyme that converts acyclovir into a compound capable of attacking in HIV. Acyclovir by itself is simply inactive against HIV and therefore the drug can only work in people infected with both viruses.
Release date: September 15, 2008
Source: McGill University
Filed Under: Drug Discovery
