The discovery of a large group of people whose bodies naturally control HIV without taking medication is leading to hopes of a possible cure, say the scientists.
The study found that up to 4% of people living with HIV in the Democratic Republic of Congo were able to suppress the virus.
Typically, less than 1% of people with HIV are able to do this.
This could serve as a springboard for further research to develop a vaccine or new treatments to fight the virus that causes AIDS, the researchers say.
“When we started looking at the data from the study, we were surprised, but also elated,” Mary Rodgers, the study’s chief scientist, told the BBC.
“It could mean that this is something that we can really cure,” she said.
The results, published on eBioMedicine, which is part of the Lancet family of medical journals, analyzed samples taken from people living with HIV between 1987 and 2019.
The team included scientists from the pharmaceutical company Abbott, Université Protestante au Congo, Johns Hopkins, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the United States and the University of Missouri – Kansas City.
Dr. Rodgers, head of Abbott’s global viral surveillance program, said the group in the Democratic Republic of Congo was the largest detected in a country – between 2.7% and 4.3%. Another 1% of people living with HIV in Cameroon were also identified as controlling the virus well without medication.
“This has never been seen before, we would normally find less than 1% of all people with HIV who are able to suppress the virus naturally.”
Currently, most people living with HIV have to take antiretroviral drugs daily to suppress the virus and reduce their viral load.
It is not yet known how the so-called “elite controllers” discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo are able to suppress HIV infection.
But Dr. Rodgers said that understanding how the group was able to keep viral loads low or undetectable would be crucial to controlling the virus.
However, she highlighted the need for more research, while pointing to previous studies that showed that this group of people may lose their protection as the disease progresses.
HIV caught global attention in the 1980s. It has infected 76 million people since then and 38 million people are living with the virus, Abbott said.
It is believed to have originated in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, a century ago, and today HIV disproportionately affects women in sub-Saharan Africa.