Researchers have discovered that the drug valproic acid (Depakote) may be able to reduce the pool of dormant HIV-infected cells in the body.
Depakote is commonly prescribed for chronic anxiety and depression in humans.
According to a report from Aidsmap.com, Valproic acid, which is already licensed for the treatment of bipolar disorder and epilepsy, is an inhibitor of a cellular enzyme called histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1). This enzyme is crucial for keeping HIV's genes hidden within the host cell's DNA.
"Our findings show that 16 to 18 weeks' treatment with a standard clinical dose of valproic acid, in the setting of intensified highly active antiretroviral therapy, produces a substantial decline in the frequency of replication-competent HIV in circulating resting CD4 T-cells," researchers say.
But not everyone believes the hype.
"It didn't get all the cells. That's probably because it's not really targeting the right mechanism for latency," Dr Robert Siliciano of John Hopkins University says. "It's got to be a 99.9999% reduction to be useful. When you stop the drugs the virus explodes back so quickly, even if you had one latently infected cell left, in a matter of days you would be back to where you started from."
Dr.Siliciano adds, "It's a little bit premature to be talking about a cure for HIV."
