Scientists have long suspected a beneficial link between herpes treatment and HIV suppression, and now federal researchers say they might know why. Their study, reported in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, has shown that the antiherpes drug acyclovir interferes with HIV's reverse transcription process'but only when active herpesvirus activates the medication through a chemical reaction called phosphorylation. When herpesvirus is completely suppressed, the medication'and its anti-HIV effects'remains dormant.
The research team now hopes to chemically modify acyclovir so that it is always in an activated form. That would make it a potentially powerful addition to anti-HIV regimens.
