{"id":243632,"date":"2026-09-04T01:49:37","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T06:49:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/09\/cancer-medication-helps-reduce-siv-reservoir-increasing-hope-for-hiv-cure"},"modified":"2026-09-04T01:49:37","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T06:49:37","slug":"cancer-medication-helps-reduce-siv-reservoir-increasing-hope-for-hiv-cure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/09\/cancer-medication-helps-reduce-siv-reservoir-increasing-hope-for-hiv-cure","title":{"rendered":"Cancer medication helps reduce SIV reservoir, increasing hope for HIV cure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/cancer-medication-helps-reduce-siv-reservoir-increasing-hope-for-hiv-cure2.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Emory University researchers have provided the first proof of concept in a nonhuman primate model for eliminating HIV-infected cells with venetoclax, a clinically approved cancer medication. Venetoclax effectively targets and blocks Bcl-2, a protein that not only regulates whether cells live or die but also promotes the survival of cancer cells. Similarly, Bcl-2 is a culprit in sustaining HIV cell reservoirs.<\/p>\n<p>The research team determined that venetoclax is also effective at reducing simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) reservoir levels in vivo when given as part of a combination treatment for HIV. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41564-026-02464-7\" target=\"_blank\">results are reported<\/a> in <i>Nature Microbiology<\/i>, and two clinical trials are underway to test venetoclax in people living with HIV.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEliminating the viral reservoir is a priority in the pursuit of a cure for HIV,\u201d says Mirko Paiardini, Ph.D., senior author. \u201cDespite many attempts, there hasn\u2019t been a therapeutic strategy able to do this. Our study, however, offers hope for accelerating the timeline for a cure by using an approved medication.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Emory University researchers have provided the first proof of concept in a nonhuman primate model for eliminating HIV-infected cells with venetoclax, a clinically approved cancer medication. Venetoclax effectively targets and blocks Bcl-2, a protein that not only regulates whether cells live or die but also promotes the survival of cancer cells. Similarly, Bcl-2 is a [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243632\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}