Rhesus macaques, a type of monkey were treated at Oregon National Primate Research Center by scientists who were recently revealed that antibodies can cure SHIV. SHIV is a chimeric simian virus that can tolerate HIV protein in the macaques.
According to Medical Express, the study shows that antibodies can cure SHIV of exposed baby macaques within 24 hours. This study is also important for the progress of the HIV scientific community.
SHIV is a non-human primate it can transmit from mother macaques to their offspring thru milk feeding. Unlike humans, HIV can be transmitted thru breastfeeding and childbirth.
According to Nancy L. Haigwood, PH.D., a senior author of the study said: "We knew going into this study that HIV infection spreads very quickly in human infants during mother-to-child transmission." She is also the director and senior scientist, Oregon National Primate Research Center at Oregon Health & Science University.
"So we knew that we had to treat the infant rhesus macaques quickly but we were not convinced an antibody treatment could completely clear the virus after exposure. We were delighted to see this result," she added. Haigwood and her colleagues manage the anti-HIV-1 neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (NmAb).
Treating the baby macaques with antiretroviral therapy during breastfeeding is suggested with a slight chance of danger. So they use antibodies to limit the transmission of the disease, according to Portland Business Journal.
Researchers used the NmAb antibodies to the baby macaques. NmAb is taken from the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institutes of Health. They manage the antibodies in the tissues several days after the exposure of the baby Macaques.
The virus was cleared after 14 days when the baby macaques intake it. According to the United States and South Africa clinical trials, HIV-exposed newborns are treated with antibodies. An HIV-negative adult shows that antibodies can be used against HIV safely.
