The fight to end HIV has been long and ongoing. But in recent years, researchers have made some incredible breakthroughs in terms of treatment and vaccines. Well as it turns out, the fight may be getting a punch in the arm from a most unlikely source – an anti-fungal foot cream! Yes, not only does this common drug kill HIV, it is even more effective than some of today’s most cutting-edge drugs.

In a study performed at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, the drug Ciclopirox was shown to completely eradicate infectious HIV when applied to cell cultures of the virus. But what was even more impressive was the fact that the virus didn’t bounce back when the drug was withheld. This means that, unlike most anti0viral drugs, it may not require a lifetime of use to keep HIV at bay.

The same group of researchers had previously shown that Ciclopirox – which was approved by the FDA and Europe’s EMA to treat foot fungus – inhibits the expression of HIV genes. Now they have found that it also blocks the essential function of the mitochondria, which results in the reactivation of the cell’s suicide pathway, all while sparing surrounding healthy cells.

This is key since one of the worst aspects of HIV – one that makes it particularly persistent, even in the face of strong antiviral treatments – is its ability to disable a cell’s altruistic suicide pathway. This “self-destruct protocol” is typically activated when a cell is damaged or infected. With the introduction of Ciclopirox, these cells are tricked into pulling a double negative, disabling the disabling of the suicide pathway.

Naturally, the cream will have to be tested on humans before its efficacy as a topical HIV treatment can be tested. However, the fact that it’s already been deemed safe for one type of human use could make the regulatory process faster than usual. In fact, the researchers have noted that another FDA-approved drug now thought to help subdue HIV (called Deferiprone) skipped animal studies and went straight to human trials in South Africa.

Naturally, the Rutgers team hopes they too can go directly from their culture studies to human trials, and that the case involving Deferiprone will pave the way for a more streamlined testing process. This is likely, seeing as how there have been many breakthroughs in recent months and everyone – from researchers to patients to medical authorities – want to make treatments available as soon as possible.

Source: news.cnet.com