Drugs used to lower cholesterol have shown a surprising and exciting effect: in six HIV positive patients in Spain they appeared to lower levels of the disease. When they stopped taking the drugs, their disease levels rose again.
Dr Gustavo del Real and his colleagues at the Spanish Council for Scientific Research found that the drugs, usually given to patients with high cholesterol to reduce their risk of heart disease, appeared to stop the HIV virus from infecting healthy cells. The virus could not penetrate the membrane around the cells and it could not get out of infected cells.
Writing in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, the Spanish doctors said they hoped statins would turn out to be a new and relatively cheap weapon against HIV, but further research is needed.
• Statins used to be available only on prescription, but can now be bought over the counter in pharmacies in the UK.
