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Any article that uses HIV and “cure” in the same sentence will generate serious interest from both providers and patients. This year’s Lancet article on valproic acid (ACC Sep 14 2005) was no exception.
According to current theory, HIV eradication is impossible because certain resting memory cells persist for decades with integrated HIV. When therapy is stopped, these cells quickly reestablish the actively replicating plasma virus pool. This so-called latent reservoir has been notoriously difficult to attack. In vitro, valproic acid inhibits a chromatin-remodeling enzyme called histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1), which is believed to play a key role in latency.
In this pilot study, four HIV-infected individuals with long-term virologic suppression…