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Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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A new study conducted by Harvard scientists can help doctors quickly and inexpensively create new combinations of drugs for HIV-infected patients with a reduction in the likelihood of resistance to medication by the virus.
As the article published in the newspaper "Nature Medicine" explodes, a team of researchers led by Martin Novak, professor of Mathematics and Biology and director of the Evolution Dynamics Program, developed a technique that medical researchers can use to predict the results of a variety of treatment systems and predict , will not HIV acquire the ability to resist them.
"In our work, we explain the methodology for predicting by modeling whether patients will develop resistance to treatment with certain drugs," explained Alison Hill, a graduate student in biophysics and co-author of the article.
"Compared to the time and money spent on clinical trials, this method offers a relatively easy way to make such predictions. And, as described in the article, our results coincide with what doctors see in the clinical setting. "
"This is a mathematical tool that will help to conduct clinical trials. Now, to determine the optimal combination of drugs, researchers use trial and error, and our approach uses a mathematical understanding of evolution to make the process logical, mathematically sound. "
In developing their methods, Harvard scientists used previous studies that described how HIV reacts to different doses of different drugs.
The fact is that with an inadequate dose of the drug, the virus in the human body increases its ability to replicate and grow. At the same time, at too high a dose of the drug, the risk of mutation of the virus increases, which will lead to its resistance to a particular drug.
Since the most effective combination therapy of HIV-infected patients with several drugs, a new technique, based on the data of previous studies and mathematical calculations, can determine the optimal combination of different drugs in such a "cocktail".
The developers of the new mathematical modeling system say that their project will give the HIV-infected a new hope, as doctors will have the opportunity to develop more advanced and less expensive treatment systems.