Combination treatment with fine-particle formulations of Reyataz (atazanavir) and Norvir (ritonavir), plus an immune-dampener drug, greatly reduced HIV levels in mice, aidsmap reports. Publishing their findings in the journal Nanomedicine, researchers studied HIV-infected mice engineered to have human immune systems, treating them with nanoformulations of Reyataz and Norvir, plus the experimental immune-dampening drug URMC-099. They also studied the effects of these drugs as a pretreatment before infecting mice with HIV.

Among untreated, HIV-infected mice, the average viral load was about 100,000. Among those treated with only the nanofomulated Reyataz and Norvir, the viral load was 1,600 on average. The mice receiving the triple combination, including URMC-099, had an average viral load of 284.

The Reyataz and Norvir plus URMC-099 combination treatment led to a 100-fold drop in the number of HIV-infected CD4 cells in the lymph nodes.

The researchers also gave various combinations of the drugs to uninfected mice, then stopped treatment and, after the drugs were out of the mices’ systems, infected the animals with HIV. This pretreatment protocol ultimately led to lower numbers of cells with HIV DNA integrated into them, compared with the infected mice that hadn’t received pretreatment. The pretreatment protocol also greatly reduced the number of cells that were producing new virus.

To read the aidsmap article, click here.

To read the study abstract, click here.