Hopes for an AIDS Cure Remain Alive

Valproic acid is known to inhibit an enzyme called histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1), which HIV needs to stay hidden in cells.

By the end of the four-month trial, reservoirs of latent HIV in immune CD4 cells had been depleted by 75 percent, the researchers reported. "This new approach, in the future, may allow us to make progress in eradication of infection in an HIV-infected person," Margolis toldHealthDayat the time.

Still, experts say the bulk of latent HIV hides out in a wide variety of tissues, including the gut, lymph nodes, and drug-impermeable areas such as the brain or testes. So, this line of research still has a very long way to go, according to amfAR's Johnston.

"I don't want anyone to come away with the impression that amfAR thinks that we're close to a cure -- we're absolutely not," she said. "We need to work at understanding what the barriers are, let alone work out how to overcome them."

Deeks agreed. But he also agreed that the search for a cure must go on.

"All of this has to be put into the context of the fact that antiretroviral treatment, although it works great, has its limitations," he said. "Many people can't adhere to these drugs for a lifetime, they are complicated, and all these toxicities keep piling up."

"A drug-free way to manage patients is a highly desirable thing," Deeks said. "I'd call that a cure. And that's what we should be reaching for."

More information

For more on HIV research, visit the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

SOURCES: Rowena Johnston, M.D., director, basic research, Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), New York City; Paul Bieniasz, Ph.D., associate professor, Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, New York City; Stephen Deeks, M.D., associate professor, medicine, General Clinical Research Center, University of California, San Francisco; David Margolis, M.D., professor, medicine and public health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill