HIV could be eliminated using a novel combination of drugs, claims a research team on the brink of an unprecedented experiment. 

Scientists at Case Western Reserve University's medical school have been granted $2.5 million to try pairing two never-before-combined AIDS treatments in a human clinical trial. 

The properties - a natural protein that kills disease and a lab-made antibody - have been separately used in HIV-suppressing drugs for years.

Our current line-up of medication is highly effective: roughly 30 percent of America's 1.2 million people with HIV have reached an undetectable viral load - meaning treatment has suppressed the virus to the point it is untransmittable.

But lead researcher Dr Michael M Lederman believes a combination of these two properties could 'produce more of a wallop in tandem than when administered individually'.

Novel combination of drugs 'could eliminate HIV', scientists claim as they start groundbreaking human trial

Case Western Reserve University scientists are combining two AIDS treatments

The two properties have already been shown to reduce the viral load of HIV

But researchers believe they could go as far as to reduce 'latent HIV reservoirs' - HIV-infected cells which do not actively produce HIV so are harder to target 

HIV could be eliminated using a novel combination of drugs, claims a research team on the brink of an unprecedented experiment. 

Scientists at Case Western Reserve University's medical school have been granted $2.5 million to try pairing two never-before-combined AIDS treatments in a human clinical trial. 

The properties - a natural protein that kills disease and a lab-made antibody - have been separately used in HIV-suppressing drugs for years.

Our current line-up of medication is highly effective: roughly 30 percent of America's 1.2 million people with HIV have reached an undetectable viral load - meaning treatment has suppressed the virus to the point it is untransmittable.

But lead researcher Dr Michael M Lederman believes a combination of these two properties could 'produce more of a wallop in tandem than when administered individually'.

Researchers believe a new combination of drugs could reduce the number of 'latent HIV reservoirs' - HIV-infected cells which do not actively produce HIV so are harder to target

'Administered alone, both Il-2 [interleukin-2] and certain monoclonal antibodies can reduce—but not necessarily eliminate— the presence of HIV in the body,' said Dr. Lederman. 

'Our study will go the next step and use them together.'

IL-2 is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treating certain cancers. 

It activates killer cells and also activates HIV from latency (a positive development since the activated cells die when expressing virus). 

Monoclonal antibodies that neutralize HIV are cloned protein antibodies that bind to the surface of HIV and keep it from infecting the body's immune cells.