CURES OF HIV

Bonjour! How has it been guys? Hope that everyone is doing fine! In this blog post, we will be sharing with you guys on  the current cures for HIV in Singapore. Before we start, let me share a fun fact with you guys (or rather some statistic that we have found)!

In 2014, there have been 456 new cases of HIV infections that were reported among Singapore residents! (woah! that is a lot of cases) This has bring the total number of HIV infected Singapore residents to about 6,685 as of end 2014. But out of the 6,685, 1,737 patients have died due to the infection.

Okay, back to the topic.

According to the MOH website that we researched on, there is currently no cure for HIV infection. BUT, there are several treatments that are in the form of anti-retroviral therapy which can help to improve the immune system! Today, there are about 31 anti-retroviral drugs that are approved by the Food and Drug Administrations to treat HIV infections. But, these treatments do not cure people of HIV or AIDS.

How do these drugs work in our body? The drugs will suppress the HIV virus replication which will help to delay the spread of HIV in the body. From the previous blog posts, you would have understood that the enzymes Reverse Transcriptase and Protease play a crucial role in the HIV replication cycle and hence, HIV drugs usually target on these enzymes.For instance, there are currently 6 types of drugs that act as Reverse Transcriptase inhibitors and these drugs are currently in the market, administered to patients infected with HIV.An example of a Reverse Transciptase inhibitor is Zidovudine (AZT). Zidovudine functions as a thymine analog ( Thymine is an essential nucleotide/building block of DNA) and when taken as a drug, it incorporates itself into the developing viral DNA chain. The chemical structure of Zidovudine has an azido group instead of the usual 3’OH group that a thymine molecule has.The presence of this azido group does not allow bonding with phosphate groups and this therefore prevents the elongation of viral DNA chains by Reverse Transcriptase. In addition to Reverse Transcriptase inhibitors, protease inhibitors, that reversibly bind to the HIV protease enzyme and prevent it from cutting the HIV molecules down to its proper size, may also function as an effective HIV drug.The HIV drugs are usually taken in combinations so as to allow the HIV treatment to be more effective and to prevent drug resistance. These drug treatments are known as “cocktails” Overall, the drugs are designed to strengthen the immune system to keep the HIV from developing into AIDS or to relieve the AIDS symptoms. (* AIDS is known as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and it is the final stage of HIV infection where the immune system has been so damaged that one is at high risk for contracting opportunistic infections) These drugs are very expensive and may even cause very uncomfortable side effects Also, these drugs may only work for some people and lasts for a limited period of time.With the production of these drugs, which aid to suppress HIV viral replication, people are now able to get infected with  HIV/ AIDS and still survive for many years.

Over the recent years, there has also been an increasing research on the discovery of newly synthesized HIV drugs which could potentially prevent or cure HIV.Currently, there are 44 HIV drugs that are in the midst of  clinical trials or awaiting the review by FDA. The 44 medicines currently being developed include 25 antiretrovirals, 16 vaccines and 3 cell/gene therapies. These medications are aimed at preventing HIV from entering the cell membrane of the host cells. One of the cell therapies created also aims to modify the actual cell of the patient so as to prevent the cell from being affected and damaged by HIV. An example of a combination of antiretroviral drugs that have just been approved by the FDA for use in HIV treatment, is Genvoya.Genvoya is said to contain a new version of tenofovir which is a very powerful HIV inhibitor.

Picture sharing time:

A table illustration of some common antiretroviral drugs taken by HIV patients:

A bottle of Genvoya tablets:

Before we end this blog post, we have found this video on YouTube that we would like to share with you guys. Through this video, we hope that you guys will be able to better understand how HIV drugs works in your body. (This is an example of How a Reverse Transcriptase inhibitor drug works!)

We hope that through this blog post you will better understand the cure of HIV and how the  drugs work in your body. In the next post, we will be sharing with you guys on the preventive methods against HIV! Do stay tuned! :)

Till then,
Stay cool,stay healthy
TERESA AND NERISSA

References:

https://www.moh.gov.sg/content/moh_web/home/diseases_and_conditions/h/hiv_aids.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06mQyXQlR08

http://sfaf.org/hiv-info/basics/is-there-a-cure-for-hiv-aids.html?referrer=https://www.google.com.sg/

https://www.aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/hiv-aids-101/what-is-hiv-aids/

http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/featurestories/2014/march/20140310salim

http://www.phrma.org/media-releases/new-medicines-in-development-give-hope-to-patients-with-hivaids

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/302153.php