Radioimmunotherapy Is a Promising Treatment for HIV Infection and Viral Cancers

Ekaterina Dadachova, PhD, a leading radioimmunotherapy (RIT) researcher at Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, recently spoke at an American Association for the Advancement of Science Lecture Series about a promising new treatment called RIT. The experimental treatment “holds promise for treating various infectious diseases, including HIV and cancers caused by viruses,” and “has been the most successful so far in treatment of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Over the past few years, in collaboration with Dr. Arturo Casadevall, Chair and Forchheimer Professor of Microbiology & Immunology at Einstein, Dr. Dadachova has adapted the RIT technique, which was initially developed as a therapy for cancer treatment, to fight fungal, bacterial, and viral infections. Now, Drs. Dadachova and Casadevall and their colleagues have “demonstrated that the treatment can effectively eliminate HIV-infected human cells in both laboratory and animal studies, the latter involving two different models of mice with HIV,” and the team is now conducting pre-clinical testing in preparation for a Phase I clinical trial in HIV-infected patients.

To learn more about RIT ad these studies, please visit the following links:

• Targeted Killing of Virally Infected Cells by Radiolabeled Antibodies to Viral Proteins
• Treating Cancer as an Infectious Disease—Viral Antigens as Novel Targets for Treatment and Potential Prevention of Tumors of Viral Etiology
• Radioimmunotherapy: Promising Treatment for HIV Infection and Viral Cancers