Kelly's Blog

Last week, scientists at Johns Hopkins University made a startling announcement.

The common and  inexpensive antibiotic known as minocycline has been used to treat acne. Researchers found it effectively targets infected immune cells where HIV lies dormant and prevents them from reactivating and replicating.

Minocycline can be used in combination with a standard drug therapy we know as HAART (Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy), according to this new research published online and appearing in April 15, 2020 edition of  The Journal of Infectious Diseases.

“The powerful advantage to using minocycline is that the virus appears less able to develop drug resistance because minocycline targets cellular pathways not viral proteins,” says Janice Clements, Ph.D., Mary Wallace Stanton Professor of Faculty Affairs, vice dean for faculty, and professor of molecular and comparative pathobiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in their press release.

She went on to say that the big challenge for doctors is to keep the HIV in a dormant state and minocyline is another arm of the defense against HIV.

To read more about this new breakthrough, please go to http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2010/03_18a_10.html.