tagged w/ HIV Cure
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From the moment one is diagnosed as HIV positive or at the initial detection of HIV virus, nutrition intervention should be the first strategy to be taken for maximal effectiveness in the fight for life as well as the fight towards progression of AIDS to death.From the moment one is diagnosed as HIV positive or at the initial detection of HIV... more
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American scientists are touting a major stride toward a vaccine that can ward off HIV, after finding two key proteins that neutralize 91 percent of the virus' 190 strains.
The team of researchers with the National Institutes of Health's Vaccine Research Center hopes the antibody discovery can spur successful work toward a method of preventing HIV, which already afflicts an estimated 33 million people worldwide.
http://www.aolnews.com/health/article/discovery-helps-us-researchers-close-in-on-hiv-vaccine/19547029American scientists are touting a major stride toward a vaccine that can ward off HIV,... more
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US researchers have discovered two powerful antibodies that neutralize more than 90 percent of all known strains of the HIV virus in the lab, new research released Thursday showed.
NIH-led scientists discovered the antibodies known as VRCO1 and VRCO2 that prevent most HIV strains from infecting human cells. The find is a potential breakthrough for advancing HIV vaccine design, and antibody therapy for other diseases.
The authors, whose work is published in the July 9 issue of Science, also were able to demonstrate how one of these disease-fighting proteins gets the job done.
"The discovery of these exceptionally broadly neutralizing antibodies to HIV and the structural analysis that explains how they work are exciting advances that will accelerate our efforts to find a preventive HIV vaccine for global use," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health.
"In addition, the technique the teams used to find the new antibodies represents a novel strategy that could be applied to vaccine design for many other infectious diseases," Fauci stressed in a statement.
The team of virologists found that the two antibodies were produced naturally and found in the blood of HIV-positive people.
They were able to isolate these antibodies using a new molecular device they developed. It zeroes in on specific cells that make antibodies against HIV. The device is an HIV protein scientists modified to react only with antibodies specific to the site where the virus binds to cells it infects.
Leading two research teams were NIAID scientists Peter Kwong, Ph.D., John Mascola, MD, and Gary Nabel, MD, Ph.D.
"We have used our knowledge of the structure of a virus -- in this case, the outer surface of HIV -- to refine molecular tools that pinpoint the vulnerable spot on the virus and guide us to antibodies that attach to this spot, blocking the virus from infecting cells," explained Nabel.
Mascola added that: "the antibodies attach to a virtually unchanging part of the virus, and this explains why they can neutralize such an extraordinary range of HIV strains."
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0708/scientists-discover-antibodies-neutralize-90-pct-hiv-strains/US researchers have discovered two powerful antibodies that neutralize more than 90... more
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A 42-year-old HIV patient with leukemia continues to show no signs of HIV in his blood, two years after a stem cell transplant from a donor with a gene mutation that confers natural resistance to the virus that causes AIDS.
The stunning findings were published Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine, according to CNN, but doctors caution that the stem cell treatment is too dangerous to be of routine use to most people infected with HIV.
In the study, reported CNN, “the team deliberately chose a compatible donor who has a naturally occurring gene mutation that confers resistance to HIV. The mutation cripples a receptor known as CCR5, which is normally found on the surface of T cells, the type of immune system cells attacked by HIV.
“The mutation is known as CCR5 delta32 and is found in 1 percent to 3 percent of white populations of European descent.
“HIV uses the CCR5 as a co-receptor (in addition to CD4 receptors) to latch on to and ultimately destroy immune system cells. Since the virus can't gain a foothold on cells that lack CCR5, people who have the mutation have natural protection. (There are other, less common HIV strains that use different co-receptors.)
“People who inherit one copy of CCR5 delta32 take longer to get sick or develop AIDS if infected with HIV. People with two copies (one from each parent) may not become infected at all. The stem cell donor had two copies.”
Doctors say that while the risky stem cell transplant option should not be routinely exercised, the findings point the way toward development of potentially safer CCR5-disabling gene therapies or treatments that can be injected into the body.A 42-year-old HIV patient with leukemia continues to show no signs of HIV in his... more
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The first HIV vaccine to be called a success has stood up to scrutiny after further analysis of the data was presented today in Paris, France.
However, the new analysis also confirms that the optimistic claims, first made in September and viewed sceptically at the time, are indeed very modest.
Last month's announcement of success (PDF) was made by researchers from the US Military HIV Research Program (MHRP). They reported that their vaccine reduced the risk of infection by about 31 per cent in a trial in Thailand.
But it was not clear that the vaccine offered any protection because the result was based on very few cases: 51 of 8197 vaccinated individuals became infected with HIV compared with 74 of 8198 unvaccinated people, a difference of just 23.
Bonus data
Today, at the AIDS Vaccine 2009 meeting in Paris, MHRP researchers presented the analysis underlying the result that they announced a month ago, plus two additional analyses of the raw data (PDF).
These new analyses included people who had been excluded from the research results, such as those who did not take the six vaccine shots in the correct order. In neither was the trend statistically significant.
After hearing the new results, Seth Berkley, chief executive of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, said, "Certainly, there's some kind of signal there," but added, "It's a modest effect."
He also says that the new results are interesting because they give novel insights into how the vaccine works over time.
Early effect
The risks of infection in the vaccinated group were reduced by around 60 per cent within a year, but by 30 months after vaccination the protective effect was only 36 per cent. This resulted in a 31 per cent figure overall.
"It looked like there's an early effect that wanes with time," said Berkley. "It may be that the vaccine generates only weak antibodies against HIV, and these are only effective early on."
Berkley says that further investigation of the mechanisms by which the vaccine worked would provide powerful new knowledge to guide selection of new, more potent vaccines.The first HIV vaccine to be called a success has stood up to scrutiny after further... more
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About 95% of the human genome has once been designated as "junk" DNA. While much of this sequence may be an evolutionary artifact that serves no present-day purpose, some junk DNA may function in ways that are not currently understood. The conservation of some junk DNA over many millions of years of evolution may imply an essential function that has been "turned off." Now scientists say there's a junk gene that fights HIV. And they've discovered how to turn it back on.
What these scientists have done could give us the first bulletproof HIV vaccine. They have re-awakened the human genome's latent potential to make us all into HIV-resistant creatures; they published their ground-breaking research in PLoS Biology.
A group of scientists led by Nitya Venkataraman and Alexander Colewhether wanted to try a new approach to fighting HIV - one that worked with the body's own immune system. They knew Old World monkeys had a built-in immunity to HIV: a protein called retrocyclin, which can prevent HIV from entering cell walls and starting an infection. So they began poring over the human genome, looking to see if humans had a latent gene that could manufacture retrocyclin too. It turned out that we did, but a "nonsense mutation" in the gene had turned it off at some point in our evolutionary history.
Nonsense mutations are caused when random DNA code shows up in the middle of a gene, preventing it from beginning the process of manufacturing proteins in the cell. Venkataraman and her team decided to investigate this gene further, doing a series of tests to see if the retrocyclin it produced would keep HIV out of human cells. It did.
At last, they knew that if they could just figure out a way to reawaken the "junk" gene that creates retrocyclin in humans, they might be able to stop HIV infections. The researchers just needed to figure out a way to remove that nonsense mutation and get the target gene to start manufacturing retrocyclin again.
Here's where things really get interesting. The team found a way to use a compound called aminoglycosides, which itself can cause errors when RNA transcribes information from DNA to make proteins. But this time, the aminoglycoside error would work in their favor: It would cause that RNA to ignore the nonsense mutation in the junk gene, and therefore start making retrocyclin again. In preliminary tests, their scheme worked. The human cells made retrocyclin, fended off HIV, and effectively became AIDS-resistant. And it was done entirely using the latent potential in the so-called junk DNA of the human genome.
After more research is done, the researchers believe this might become a viable way to make humans immune to HIV infection.
What's especially intriguing, beyond the amazing idea of an AIDS vaccine, is that aminoglycosides have the potential to unlock the uses for other pieces of junk DNA. In Darwin's Radio, certain portions of these "non-sense" sequences, remnants of prehistoric retroviruses, have been activated by aminoglycosides. In the novel, humans start rapidly evolving after their junk DNA re-awakens in response to stress. Could we induce instant mutations, or gain other new immunities by using aminoglycosides on our junk DNA?About 95% of the human genome has once been designated as "junk" DNA. While... more
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There is real hope that what’s happening in a Houston lab might lead to a cure for HIV.
“We have found an innovative way to kill the virus by finding this small region of HIV that is unchangeable,” Dr. Sudhir Paul of the University of Texas Medical School at Houston said.
Dr. Paul and Dr. Miguel Escobar aren’t talking about just suppressing HIV – they’re talking about destroying it permanently by arming the immune system with a new weapon lab tests have shown to be effective.
“We’ve discovered the weak spot of HIV,” he said.
Paul and his team have zeroed in on a section of a key protein in HIV’s structure that does not mutate.
“The virus needs at least one constant region, and that is the essence of calling it the Achilles heel,” Paul said.
That Achilles heel is the doctors’ way in. They take advantage of it with something called an abzyme.
Basically, their idea could be used to control the disease for people who already have it and prevent infection for those at risk.
The theory has held up in lab and animal testing. The next step is human trials.
The doctors still need funding to launch human trials. In the world of HIV research, that’s often where things fall apart.
“Clinical trials are very expensive,” Paul said.
“That is the worry of the researcher. This is what nightmares are made of – that after 30 years of work, you find it doesn’t work,” Paul said.
But so far, it is working.
“This is the holy grail of HIV research, to develop a preventative vaccine,” Paul said. There is real hope that what’s happening in a Houston lab might lead to a cure... more
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