A team of researchers studying the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has recently discovered a new strategy to starve the virus by blocking the pipeline that provides the sugar and nutrients it needs to survive.

According to the team associated with the study, HIV has a sweet tooth and this voracious big appetite is its Achilles' heel.

Further in explanation scientists said the virus invades an activated immune cell (CD4+ T-cell). The virus sucks out the sugar and nutrients from the cell in order to replicate and fuel its growth throughout the body.

The team said they were successful in discovering the main switch that turns on an immune cell's abundant sugar and nutrient pipeline that HIV uses to fuel its growth.

Furthermore during the study, researchers after finding the switch blocked it using an experimental compound that effectively closed the pipeline.

By closing the researchers essentially starved the HIV virus to death leaving it unable to replicate in human cells in vitro.

Researchers believe that this discovery could not only help people infected with HIV, but can also be used as a treatment for a variety of cancers.

Harry Taylor, assistant professor in Medicine-Infectious Diseases, said, "This compound can be the precursor for something that can be used in the future as part of a cocktail to treat HIV that improves on the effective medicines we have today".

Current medications stop the growth of HIV but do not affect the abnormally excessive activation of immune cells triggered by HIV, said experts.

But this new approach that slows down the growth of the immune cells could reduce the dangerous inflammation and thwart the life-long persistence of HIV, said Taylor.