Cancer treatments may unlock a cure for HIV - Research shows

Cancer treatments may hold a cure for HIV, new research suggests.
Both HIV and cancer sufferers struggle to rid themselves of their condition, however, boosting the latter patients' immune systems can significantly reduce their tumours.
It is hoped that a similar treatment could clear HIV sufferers of the virus.
Such drugs may also activate HIV that lies dormant in a patient's cells, which is the biggest obstacle to curing sufferers as current drugs are unable to detect 'hidden' forms of the virus.
Yet, some experts argue that HIV and cancer are vastly different, and success in one does not guarantee similar outcomes in the other.
Experts claim that cancerous cells and those infected with HIV multiply in a similar way.
They also both express the same molecules.
This leads experts to believe that certain cancer therapies, known as checkpoint inhibitors, could successfully treat HIV.
Professor Sharon Lewin, director of The Peter Doherty Institute 32te for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne, said: 'There are a lot of parallels… I think it's huge,' the BBC reported.
Checkpoint inhibitors support the immune system in its fight against cancer after proteins on tumours 'turn it off'.
Such drugs may also activate HIV that lies dormant in cells, which may allow the virus to be killed by the immune system.
Current drugs, as well as the immune system, fail to recognise dormant HIV.
'HIV is so different'
Yet, some argue there is little evidence cancer drugs have any effect on HIV.
Dr Anthony Fauci, head of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said: 'We have to be careful we don't assume that things that work in cancer are going to work in HIV.
'HIV is so different, that even though it's worth exploring, I wouldn't want people to think this is going to be equally successful in HIV.'
This comes after researchers from multiple institutions, including Texas A&M University, found that injecting cows with HIV causes the animals to develop an immune response in as little as 35 days.
They hope that such immune cells could be incorporated into an injection to neutralize HIV in infected humans.

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