07-11-2017
Researcher Susana Valente, currently Group Leader in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at the Scripps Research Institute in Florida, USA, and a former FCT NOVA student (Bachelor of Applied Chemistry, 1997), tested a compound that allows a functional "cure" for HIV-AIDS, by a process of blocking viral expression and its reactivation in infected cells.
The results of this research, led by Susana Valente, were published last October in the scientific journal "Cell Reports". They indicate that this compound has great potential as the new drug, which, although it does not prevent the infection process, ensures the "dormancy" of the virus. There is therefore a synergistic effect between this compound and the antivirals used in conventional therapies.
Another apparent benefit, according to Susana Valente, is that this component can stop the neurological deterioration caused by HIV.
