Unfortunately, the virus had been hiding in reservoirs deep in the child’s immune system, and immediately rebounded, the researchers said.
The cases highlight the difficulty of eliminating HIV from deep within the immune system.
The virus infects the “memory cells” of the immune system — cells that lie dormant deep within the system and retain the knowledge of how to respond to different types of infection, Persaud said. These cells wait in reserve, ready to be called upon to fight off a future illness.
Because these cells are dormant, drug treatments that rid the bloodstream of HIV are not able to get inside them and kill off the virus hiding within, she explained. And once antiretroviral treatment stops, any immune response that activates these memory cells will cause the patient’s HIV to re-emerge.
“It takes advantage of the very biology we use to cope with infections,” said Dr. Bruce Hirsch, an infectious diseases specialist at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y.
Despite these setbacks, doctors have not given up on a “functional cure” for children born with HIV.