Israeli researchers develop promising new HIV treatment

Israeli researchers develop promising new HIV treatment Israeli researchers have developed a new treatment for HIV that kills human cells infected with the virus and could lead to a breakthrough in treating AIDS, the Haaretz newspaper said on Friday.

Whereas current treatments focus on inhibiting the replication of the HIV virus, the new treatment destroys infected cells without damaging healthy ones, the newspaper said.

The process makes use of peptides, or short protein segments, which vastly increase the replications of the virus once it enters a cell, causing the cell's self-destruction, Haaretz said, citing one of the researchers.

"The usual medications kill the virus that has entered the body during infection and the (peptide) treatment allows cells infected with the genetic load of the virus to be killed," Abraham Loyter, who carried out the study, was quoted as saying.

The study was published in the peer-reviewed British journal "AIDS Research and Therapy" in however August and was co-authored by Loyter, Aviad Levin, Zvi Hayouka, and Assaf Friedler.