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Category: Completed Research
Forum: FightAIDS@Home
Thread: Interesting news articles about AIDS |
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twilyth
Master Cruncher US Joined: Mar 30, 2007 Post Count: 2129 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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Toxin Kills HIV-Infected Cells
----------------------------------------Researchers have been searching for a targeted poison that could complement antiretroviral therapy by killing HIV-infected cells. A genetically designed, HIV-specific poison known as 3B3-PE38 was created in 1998 in the laboratories of Dr. Edward A. Berger of NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and Dr. Ira Pastan of NIH’s National Cancer Institute (NCI). This immunotoxin targets HIV-infected cells and, when taken inside cells, shuts down protein synthesis and triggers cell death. . . . Compared to antiretrovirals alone, the addition of the immunotoxin significantly reduced the number of cells with detectable virus in multiple organs. It also lowered the level of HIV in the blood. These and previous findings suggest that immunotoxin treatment, when added to antiretroviral therapy, could help keep HIV in remission. The ultimate goal for such treatments would be to eliminate or control HIV infections well enough to allow people to live without a lifetime of continuous antiretroviral therapy.   [Edit 1 times, last edit by twilyth at Jan 28, 2014 1:51:03 AM] |
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[CSF] Thomas Dupont
Veteran Cruncher Joined: Aug 25, 2013 Post Count: 685 Status: Offline |
Toxin Kills HIV-Infected Cells Researchers have been searching for a targeted poison that could complement antiretroviral therapy by killing HIV-infected cells. A genetically designed, HIV-specific poison known as 3B3-PE38 was created in 1998 in the laboratories of Dr. Edward A. Berger of NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and Dr. Ira Pastan of NIH’s National Cancer Institute (NCI). This immunotoxin targets HIV-infected cells and, when taken inside cells, shuts down protein synthesis and triggers cell death. . . . Compared to antiretrovirals alone, the addition of the immunotoxin significantly reduced the number of cells with detectable virus in multiple organs. It also lowered the level of HIV in the blood. These and previous findings suggest that immunotoxin treatment, when added to antiretroviral therapy, could help keep HIV in remission. The ultimate goal for such treatments would be to eliminate or control HIV infections well enough to allow people to live without a lifetime of continuous antiretroviral therapy. THX twilyth  |
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Papa3
Senior Cruncher Joined: Apr 23, 2006 Post Count: 360 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-254...invading-human-cells.html
12:34 EST, 31 January 2014 Geranium plants could hold the key to a new generation of HIV treatments, research suggests. Extracts of the geranium plant Pelargonium sidoides inactivate HIV-1 and prevent the virus invading human cells. [...] Researchers at the German Research Centre for Environmental Health, in Munich, say extracts from the geranium plants could represent a potential new class of anti-HIV-1 drugs for the treatment of AIDS. They found that root extracts from the plants contain a compound that attacks HIV-1 and prevents the virus replicating inside the human body. They found it also protects blood and immune cells from infection by the virus. It blocks the attachment of HIV particles to human cells and, thus, effectively prevents the virus invading the cells. Several clinical trials have already demonstrated that the geranium extracts are safe for human use and in Germany they are already licenced for use as a herbal medicine. Research group leader Professor Ruth Brack-Werner said: ‘[Geranium] extracts are a very promising lead for the development of the first scientifically validated phytomedicine against HIV-1. ‘[The] extracts attack HIV-1 with a mode of action that is different from all anti-HIV-1 drugs in clinical use.' [...] |
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Papa3
Senior Cruncher Joined: Apr 23, 2006 Post Count: 360 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140130190451.htm
[...] We used an animal model implanted with human tissue so we can study the actual virus under, essentially, its normal circumstances." [...] "Ours is the first major electron microscopy study to look at HIV interacting with other cells in the actual gut tissue of an infected animal model." By procuring such detailed images, Ladinsky and Bjorkman were able to confirm several observations of HIV made in prior, in vitro studies, including the structure and behavior of the virus as it buds off of infected cells and moves into the surrounding tissue and structural details of HIV budding from cells within an infected tissue. The team also described several novel observations, including the existence of "pools" of HIV in between cells, evidence that HIV can infect new cells both by direct contact or by free viruses in the same tissue, and that pools of HIV can be found deep in the gut. "The study suggests that an infected cell releases newly formed viruses in a semisynchronous wave pattern," explains Ladinsky. "It doesn't look like one virus buds off and then another in a random way. Rather, it appears that groups of virus bud off from a given cell within a certain time frame and then, a little while later, another group does the same, and then another, and so on." The team came to this conclusion by identifying single infected cells using electron microscopy. Then they looked for HIV particles at different distances from the original cell and saw that the groups of particles were more mature as their distance from the infected cell increased. "This finding showed that indeed these cells were producing waves of virus rather than individual ones, which was a neat observation," says Ladinsky. In addition to producing waves of virus, infected cells are also thought to spread HIV through direct contact with their neighbors. Bjorkman and Ladinsky were able to visualize this phenomenon, known as a virological synapse, using electron microscopy. "We were able to see one cell producing a viral bud that is contacting the cell next to it, suggesting that it's about to infect directly," Ladinsky says. "The space between those two cells represents the virological synapse." Finally, the team found pools of HIV accumulating between cells where there was no indication of a virological synapse. This suggested that a virological synapse, which may be protected from some of the body's immune defenses, is not the only way in which HIV can infect new cells. The finding of HIV transfer via free pools of free virus offers hope that treatment with protein-based drugs, such as antibodies, could be an effective means of augmenting or replacing current treatment regimens that use small-molecule antiretroviral drugs. "We saw these pools of virus in places where we had not initially expected to see them, down deep in the intestine," he explains. "Most of the immune cells in the gut are found higher up, so finding large amounts of the virus in the crypt regions was surprising." [...] |
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[CSF] Thomas Dupont
Veteran Cruncher Joined: Aug 25, 2013 Post Count: 685 Status: Offline |
Thanks for the heads-up Papa3 !
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[CSF] Thomas Dupont
Veteran Cruncher Joined: Aug 25, 2013 Post Count: 685 Status: Offline |
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140130190451.htm [...] We used an animal model implanted with human tissue so we can study the actual virus under, essentially, its normal circumstances." [...] "Ours is the first major electron microscopy study to look at HIV interacting with other cells in the actual gut tissue of an infected animal model." By procuring such detailed images, Ladinsky and Bjorkman were able to confirm several observations of HIV made in prior, in vitro studies, including the structure and behavior of the virus as it buds off of infected cells and moves into the surrounding tissue and structural details of HIV budding from cells within an infected tissue. The team also described several novel observations, including the existence of "pools" of HIV in between cells, evidence that HIV can infect new cells both by direct contact or by free viruses in the same tissue, and that pools of HIV can be found deep in the gut. "The study suggests that an infected cell releases newly formed viruses in a semisynchronous wave pattern," explains Ladinsky. "It doesn't look like one virus buds off and then another in a random way. Rather, it appears that groups of virus bud off from a given cell within a certain time frame and then, a little while later, another group does the same, and then another, and so on." The team came to this conclusion by identifying single infected cells using electron microscopy. Then they looked for HIV particles at different distances from the original cell and saw that the groups of particles were more mature as their distance from the infected cell increased. "This finding showed that indeed these cells were producing waves of virus rather than individual ones, which was a neat observation," says Ladinsky. In addition to producing waves of virus, infected cells are also thought to spread HIV through direct contact with their neighbors. Bjorkman and Ladinsky were able to visualize this phenomenon, known as a virological synapse, using electron microscopy. "We were able to see one cell producing a viral bud that is contacting the cell next to it, suggesting that it's about to infect directly," Ladinsky says. "The space between those two cells represents the virological synapse." Finally, the team found pools of HIV accumulating between cells where there was no indication of a virological synapse. This suggested that a virological synapse, which may be protected from some of the body's immune defenses, is not the only way in which HIV can infect new cells. The finding of HIV transfer via free pools of free virus offers hope that treatment with protein-based drugs, such as antibodies, could be an effective means of augmenting or replacing current treatment regimens that use small-molecule antiretroviral drugs. "We saw these pools of virus in places where we had not initially expected to see them, down deep in the intestine," he explains. "Most of the immune cells in the gut are found higher up, so finding large amounts of the virus in the crypt regions was surprising." [...] For french people Sida : les secrets du VIH révélés en images 3D "Grâce à la tomographie électronique, une équipe étasunienne a pu observer la manière dont le virus du Sida infecte le tissu intestinal. Les images obtenues révèlent certains secrets de cet agent infectieux encore indestructible." http://www.futura-sciences.com/magazines/sant...H-reveles-en-images-3D%5D |
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Papa3
Senior Cruncher Joined: Apr 23, 2006 Post Count: 360 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-03/nioa-soa022814.php
In an advance for HIV vaccine research, a scientific team has discovered how the immune system makes a powerful antibody [CAP256-VRC26] that blocks HIV infection of cells by targeting a site on the virus called V1V2. Many researchers believe that if a vaccine could elicit potent antibodies to a specific conserved site in the V1V2 region, one of a handful of sites that remains constant on the fast-mutating virus, then the vaccine could protect people from HIV infection. Analyses of the results of a clinical trial of the only experimental HIV vaccine to date to have modest success in people suggest that antibodies to sites within V1V2 were protective. The new findings point the way toward a potentially more effective vaccine that would generate V1V2-directed HIV neutralizing antibodies. [...] the researchers analyzed blood samples donated by the volunteer between 15 weeks and 4 years after becoming infected. This enabled the scientists to determine the genetic make-up of the original form of the antibody; to identify and define the structures of a number of the intermediate forms taken as the antibody mutated toward its fullest breadth and potency; and to describe the interplay between virus and antibody that fostered the maturation of CAP256-VRC26 to its final, most powerful HIV-fighting form. Notably, the study revealed that after relatively few mutations, even the early intermediates of CAP256-VRC26 can neutralize a significant proportion of known HIV strains. [...] |
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[CSF] Thomas Dupont
Veteran Cruncher Joined: Aug 25, 2013 Post Count: 685 Status: Offline |
Thanks for this news Papa3 !
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Papa3
Senior Cruncher Joined: Apr 23, 2006 Post Count: 360 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-257...fection-three-months.html
A new HIV vaccine could protect people from the infection for up to three months, a study suggests. Researchers believe the injection of long-lasting drugs could temporarily provide 100 per cent protection against HIV infection. They say this could be a huge breakthrough which would be particularly important for couples in which one partner is infected while the other is not. In two separate studies scientists found that the vaccine gives monkeys complete protection when it is administered monthly, The New York Times reports. [...] One of the vaccine trials was conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and saw six female monkeys given monthly doses of GSK744 – a long-lasting antiretroviral drug. Another six monkeys were given a placebo and then they were all exposed to HIV in a way that simulated having vaginal sex with an infected man. The researchers observed that none of the vaccinated monkeys became infected while all of the unprotected ones did. The second study was designed to establish whether the vaccine could be as effective in people having anal sex with someone HIV positive. It was carried out at Rockefeller University, in New York, and involved 16 monkeys who were injected with the same drug. During the study none of the monkeys who were given the vaccine contracted the infection while all of the unprotected ones did. Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told The New York Times that the results are ‘very impressive for something in the animal model’. ‘This is the most exciting innovation in the field of HIV prevention that I've heard recently,’ added Dr Robert Grant, an AIDS expert at the Gladstone Institutes, a foundation affiliated with the University of California, San Francisco. |
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[CSF] Thomas Dupont
Veteran Cruncher Joined: Aug 25, 2013 Post Count: 685 Status: Offline |
Thanks Papa3
---------------------------------------- Very good news ! |
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