Immune-based therapies in brief

    Immune-based therapy is considered by many to be the "holy grail" of AIDS research. Most successful therapies to date have been anti-HIV drugs that suppress reproduction of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Success, however, usually comes at the price of many side effects. Researchers and patients alike have longed for therapy that doesn't so much try to wage war against the virus, but rather strengthens the weakening immune response associated with AIDS. The hope is that such an approach might be more natural or less toxic. Although health food stores offer an abundance of products that claim to "boost" or "strengthen" immunity, those are mostly just advertising claims. Helping the immune system in its battle against HIV is far more complex than simply "boosting" anything.

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