The HIV virus can lurk in the human brain, waiting to spread

A recent study in mice and human tissue found that the HIV virus could lurk in the brain even when patients were being treated with antiviral therapy.

If the treatment is stopped, the virus lurks in the brain and will infect other organs, then infect other organs in the body if the treatment is stopped.

The HIV virus causes AIDS, paralyzes the immune system and threatens the lives of patients. Treatment with combined antiretroviral drugs (cART) can significantly reduce the concentration of viruses in the body, eliminate symptoms and treat people no longer infect others. However, the course of treatment with cART must be done daily. If paused, the virus could "break out" from the "bases" it lurks in the body.

The HIV virus can lurk in the brain. (Photo: iStock).

New research published in the journal PLOS Pathogens shows that one of these "bases" resides in brain cells - called astrocytes.

Astrocytes make up about 60% of the total number of cells in the human brain. The scientists in the study estimated that 1-3% of these cells may contain HIV.

"Even 1% can act as a" letter, "a" reserve. "If we try to find a cure for HIV, we cannot ignore this," said Professor Lena Al-Harthi. from the Department of Microbiology and Bacterial Immunology at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, the study author.

Al-Harthi and colleagues came to this conclusion after performing experiments on injecting human cells into mice as well as examining human brain tissue after death.

Although both experiments provide insight into what role cells play in HIV infection, one author of the study confirmed that more work is needed to find out exactly how the virus causes disease. in humans.

"Animal models can tell us quite a lot. They're not human, but they can tell us quite a lot. If the astrocytes act as a reservoir for HIV in infection human infections and viruses can escape the brain, trigger infection elsewhere, we need to find a cure , " said Dr. Lishomwa Ndhlovu, Professor of Immunology at Weill Cornell Medicine.