In 2016 a group of five UK universities reported that the first of 50 patients in a trial of a new HIV treatment had no detectable virus in his blood. The researchers stressed that it was far too early to call it a cure, because standard antiretroviral drugs also suppress the virus.
The “kick and kill” approach has three steps. Antiretroviral drugs stop infected T cells from releasing new virus. Patients are then given a virus that boosts the immune system’s ability to find and destroy infected cells. Finally, the drug vorinostat wakes up dormant infected T cells so they display HIV proteins and can be destroyed. The aim is to clear the hidden reservoir of virus that survives for years in resting cells.
via A British Man May Have Been Cured Of HIV | IFLScience