Chinese herbal therapy used to help fight HIV

A root used in Chinese traditional medicine is being studied to investigate its impact on immune cells.

When viruses like HIV/Aids attack the body, immune cells divide to fight the invasion, according to the University of California, Los Angeles Aids Institute.

However, as cells divide their ability to do so, or telomerase, weakens, leaving them more vulnerable to diseases over time.

Professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the UCLA Rita Effros, who co-authored the study, said: “The T-cells fighting that virus can't keep their telomerase turned on forever.”

By exposing cells with a chemical from the Astragalus root used in Chinese herbal therapy, this weakening is lessened, the scientists explained.

Cells also improved the production of soluble factors that inhibited HIV replication, researchers added.

More than half of the grants approved in the Global Fund’s $2.75 billion (£1.76 billion) for tackling communicable diseases have been earmarked for HIV/Aids.

The majority of the cash will be spent on low income countries.

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