Traditional Chinese Medicine Shows Potential as HIV Cure

Human Immunodeficiency virus causes AIDS. According to a special issue towards a cure for HIV, nine individuals with AIDS were treated with a unique formula of traditional chinese herbal medicine (TCM) from 2001-2006 or longer, with or without occasional antiviral therapy.

Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine shows potential promise as a functional cure for HIV/AIDS as discussed in a Letter to the Editor in the special issue of AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

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‘HIV cure with traditional chinese medicine is discussed in the special issue of AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses.’

The Letter to the Editor is available open access on the AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses website.

In "Long-Term Survival of AIDS Patients Treated with Only Traditional Chinese Medicine," Yifei Wang, Fujun Jin, Qiaoli Wang, and Zucai Suo, Jinan University (Guangdong, China) and The Ohio State University (Columbus), report that most of the individuals in this small study have undetectable viral loads, with one patient having a low viral load. Their CD4+ counts and CD4+/CD8+ ratios are all excellent.

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In an accompanying Editorial entitled "Can a Traditional Chinese Medicine Contribute to a Cure for HIV?" Thomas Hope, PhD, Editor-in-Chief of AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses and Professor of Cell and Molecular Biology at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine (Chicago, IL), while pointing out the limitations in interpreting the outcome of this small, non-placebo-controlled study, comments on the importance of putting "these observations into the hands of the HIV research community." He writes, "I believe there should be some effort to further explore this phenomenon."

Both the Letter to the Editor and Editorial are part of a new Special Issue on HIV Cure Research published in AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses.

Source: Eurekalert