This is the first time I would thank HIV for anything.

The Path to a Cure
"...To be clearer, HIV requires bonding at two sites in order to gain entry into human cells: the CD4 receptor site and a chemokine receptor site, most commonly CCR5. When a person has both genes (homozygous) carrying the delta 32 variant, it results in a deletion of the gene that, under normal circumstances, selects for the CCR5 chemoreceptor. In other words, it results in them lacking CCR5, a protein on the surface of immune cells that HIV uses to gain entry. In this situation, HIV is disabled from gaining entry or infecting human cells. Roughly 1% of Northern Europeans possess this abnormality. Other individuals that are heterozygous and have the genetic modification in only one gene are not protected."
http://www.thebody.com/content/65775/the-path-to-a-cure.html


Can HIV Infection Be Cured?
"...There are ongoing research efforts in several areas:
Clearing out reservoirs of infection
Vaccinations to help the immune system fight HIV (therapeutic vaccination)
Making cells resistant to HIV
Modifying stem cells
Many researchers believe that a cure will require a combination of approaches."

http://www.thebody.com/content/67370/can-hiv-...e-cured.html?ic=sadefault

http://www.bio-medicine.org/biology-news-1/Co...y-news+%28Biology+News%29

"Date:8/26/2012

Compound discovered that boosts effect of vaccines against HIV and flu

Oxford University scientists have discovered a compound that greatly boosts the effect of vaccines against viruses like flu, HIV and herpes in mice.

An 'adjuvant' is a substance added to a vaccine to enhance the immune response and offer better protection against infection.

The Oxford University team, along with Swedish and US colleagues, have shown that a type of polymer called polyethyleneimine (PEI) is a potent adjuvant for test vaccines against HIV, flu and herpes when given in mice.

The researchers were part-funded by the UK Medical Research Council and report their findings in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

Mice given a single dose of a flu vaccine including PEI via a nasal droplet were completely protected against a lethal dose of flu. This was a marked improvement over mice given the flu vaccine without an adjuvant or in formulations with other adjuvants.

The Oxford researchers now intend to test the PEI adjuvant in ferrets, a better animal model for studying flu. They also want to understand how long the protection lasts for. It is likely to be a couple of years before a flu vaccine using the adjuvant could be tested in clinical trials in humans, the researchers say.

'Gaining complete protection against flu from just one immunisation is pretty unheard of, even in a study in mice,' says Professor Quentin Sattentau of the Dunn School of Pathology at Oxford University, who led the work. 'This gives us confidence that PEI has the potential to be a potent adjuvant for vaccines against viruses like flu or HIV..."

I just found some information on a research program for creating a cheap way for mothers to keep from passing their HIV along to children they are feeding with their breast milk.

It seems that passing electricity through some liquids will inactivate any HIV they contain. Breast milk is one of them.

A group at North Carolina State University (NCSU) is developing a baby bottle that will create electricity if shaken, and pass it through the bottle's contents. A battery or hand-cranked generator can also be the energy source.

This does take some extra time to put the breast milk in the bottle, though.

No web link available.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-222...ce-milk-protects-HIV.html

The amazing new treatment using COW'S MILK that could prevent HIV
PUBLISHED: 05:24 EST, 24 October 2012

[...] scientists, led by Dr Marti Kramski, vaccinated pregnant cows with an HIV protein and studied the first milk that cows produced after giving birth. The first milk, called the colostrum, is naturally packed with antibodies to protect the newborn calf from infections. The vaccinated cows produced HIV antibodies in their milk.

'We were able to harvest antibodies specific to the HIV surface protein from the milk,' said Dr Kramski. 'We have tested these antibodies and found in our laboratory experiments that they bind to HIV and that this inhibits the virus from infecting and entering human cells.'

The HIV-inhibiting antibodies from cows’ milk will be developed into a cream called a microbicide that is applied into the vagina before and/or after sex to protect women from contracting sexually transmitted infections. Other microbicides are being developed around the world but the antibodies in this research are easier and cheaper to produce, providing a new HIV-prevention strategy. [...]