TheBody | In our long search for an HIV cure, a cancer therapy is turning heads

Although CAR-T cell therapy is primarily known as a cancer treatment, it actually was first tried in the 1990s as an HIV intervention that didn’t initially work.

Today, after decades of improving the technology to fight certain blood cancers, researchers are once again applying it to HIV. The hope is that genetically engineered T cells will one day yield a functional cure: One that doesn’t entirely eradicate the virus from a person’s body but allows the body to control it without needing to take antiretroviral therapy (ART).

This year, for the first time, two small clinical trials have found signs that the technology has the potential to help people control HIV after stopping ART. Still, much more work is needed to make it more effective and accessible.

Are you living with HIV/AIDS? Are you part of a community affected by HIV/AIDS and co-infections? Do you work or volunteer in the field? Are you motivated by our cause and interested to support our work?

Stay in the loop and get all the important EATG updates in your inbox with the EATG newsletter. The HIV & co-infections bulletin is your source of handpicked news from the field arriving regularly to your inbox.