New Antibodies to HIV Found, Raising Hopes for AIDS Vaccine
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- jmsrmy
- added this
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more from News:
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1920332,00.html?xid=rs...
Scientists probably know more about HIV than any other pathogen, but despite that fact, they have had frustratingly little success in applying their knowledge toward a vaccine against the virus.(par.1)
Now, after more than 15 years of trial and error in the field, researchers at the Scripps Research Institute and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) report they have discovered two powerful new antibodies to HIV, which may potentially lead to the development of a way to immunize against the virus.
(Park, A., 2009, September 3, par.2)
While the new antibodies are not the first of the so-called broadly neutralizing antibodies that have been isolated from HIV-positive patients, they appear, at least in the lab, to be 10 times more effective at disarming the virus than earlier versions. They are also effective against a broad array of HIV strains that span nearly every continent, from Europe and North America to Asia and Africa.
(Park, A., 2009, September 3, par.3)
"We looked at 162 different [HIV] viruses, and these antibodies neutralized 120 to 130 of strains from all across the world," says Dennis Burton of Scripps, the lead author of the study, published in the Sept. 4 issue of Science.
(Park, A., 2009, September 3, par.4)
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booksellergirl
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This is indeed something to feel hopeful about.
- 5 months ago
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booksellergirl
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sergantonio
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This is probably the most optimistic report I have seen since they discovered a small population of humans in southern Africa that where carriers if HIV but suffered no ill effects. I wonder if this is where they found the antibodies; being able to create antibodies is a huge step forward in medicine and may even replace pharmaceuticals with custom antibodies
- 5 months ago
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sergantonio
