T-cells taken from the blood of people who recovered from a COVID-19 infection can be successfully multiplied in the lab and maintain the ability to effectively target proteins that are key to the virus’s function.
Scientists have known for years that HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is difficult to cure because it hides from the body’s immune system. Research now reveals that the virus conceals itself in lymphocytes, or white blood cells, that are intrinsically hard to kill because they are resistant to killer T cells.
When longtime research collaborators Dr. Douglas Nixon and Dr. Brad Jones arrived at Weill Cornell Medicine last summer, they brought with them an ambitious goal: to find a cure for HIV.
As therapies for HIV infection have advanced to help many patients control the infection as a chronic disease, investigators and patients have set their sights on a new goal—finding a cure.
