Epilepsy drug blocks HIV in lab tests

"NEW YORK — Can an experimental drug developed to treat epilepsy block the AIDS virus? A preliminary lab study suggests it is possible, and researchers are eager to try it in people.

Scientists experimented with the drug after uncovering details of how they believe HIV cripples the immune system to bring on AIDS.

When tested in human tissues in the laboratory, the drug ‘‘works beautifully’’ to prevent HIV from destroying key cells of the immune system, said Dr. Warner Greene of the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco. Those results appear in a paper by Greene and others published online Thursday by the journal Nature."