New Delhi: In a key breakthrough for patients fighting HIV and tuberculosis (TB), a study conducted by an Indian-origin doctor discovered a cancer therapy that can help manage TB while not interfering with combined antiretroviral therapy (cART).
cART is a medication that treats HIV infection by combining three or more drugs. It is a crucial part of HIV management, as it helps suppress the virus and prevent its progression.
While many instances of tuberculosis can be treated with months of medicines, the infection can return in persons who are immunocompromised due to HIV. A resurgence of tuberculosis (TB) infection, which is responsible for over 1.3 million deaths worldwide, can often be fatal.
“This is an important hurdle that this host-directed therapy had to clear to help patients battling both HIV and TB,” said Professor Smriti Mehra from Texas Biomedical Research Institute (Texas Biomed).
In the study, published in the peer-reviewed journal JCI Insight, the scientist and her team focused on the protein known as IDO (short for Indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase), which is now employed in cancer therapy.
The US FDA has previously approved the host-directed therapy, which blocks or inhibits an immune system protein found naturally in the body. This protein, known as IDO, is a key player in regulating the immune response. By blocking IDO, the therapy can enhance the body’s immune response against cancer cells.
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The scientists demonstrated that IDO generally suppresses the immune system, limiting excessive inflammation and organ damage.
Blocking IDO for brief periods resulted in more effective cancer treatments.
Mehra’s team previously demonstrated that the same strategy increases tuberculosis control when used with medications.
In the current investigation, they tested the medication on nonhuman primates with tuberculosis and simian immunodeficiency virus, which is the nonhuman primate counterpart of HIV.
The results provide a reassuring conclusion: the IDO inhibitor does not interfere with cART and is safe for HIV patients.
Animals given both cART and the IDO inhibitor had no “increase in viral load” compared to those with cART.
The scientist also stressed the urgency of longer-term trials to ensure no unforeseen consequences.
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–IANS
