Antiretroviral drugs can greatly increase life expectancy for patients infected with HIV, the AIDS-causing virus, but one thing the drugs cannot do is completely eliminate the virus from the body. Hidden away in cells, latent HIV eventually gains access to the brain, causing a debilitating syndrome known as HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND). Remarkably, however, a group of compounds known as cannabinoid receptor type 2 (CB2) agonists may be able to stop HAND from developing, and now, thanks to new funding from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), researchers at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University are poised to investigate that possibility.
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