HIV Science
Fooling the Immune System Into Producing an HIV Vaccine
12 years ago
The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation are funding research being done at Ruhr-Universität Bochum by researchers being led by Dr. Klaus Überla. The funding comes to the sweet tune of 2.3 million dollars over the course of the next 3 years. What research is worth sinking those kinds of funds into? Research is being done to try and find an HIV vaccination.
The STEP study, performed a few years back, actually resulted in a greater susceptibility to HIV. Studies like that may have seemed to set back the process of developing a vaccine; however, Überla believes that it is important to build on such studies, see why they had the negative effect that they did, and use that information to find the correct solution. In vivo testing is the next step for the vaccine being developed by this new team of researchers.
There are already studies that show that adding a particular protein to the right point on the shell of the virus can prevent it from entering human cells. The CD4 T helper cells are vital in the production of such antibodies. They are responsible for signaling other cells, when they recognize a disease, to begin making the correct antibodies. The problem is that these cells are where HIV grows the faster. Therefore, when CD4 cells begin to multiply to create antibodies, the HIV advances more quickly.
Now researchers are hoping to fool the T cells in fighting HIV without also helping it. Rather than using T cells designed specifically for HIV, which consequently also spread the disease more quickly, they are hoping to use T cells that are made for other pathogens. The result would be an attack on HIV from the T cells, without the spread of the disease via HIV specific T cells. Researchers hope this will lead to immunization for HIV in the future.
HIV Mothers Can Pass on More than Just the Disease
12 years ago
A recent study has shown that babies born to mothers with HIV that don’t receive the disease still suffer greater risks to other diseases. In particular they have less immunity to the measles. This makes early immunization a must for the babies of HIV mothers in order to prevent this potentially deadly disease from being contracted by the infant.
The reason for this is suspected to be that immunity to measles generally comes from the mother and is not available from the immune-compromised mother with HIV. In its November issue, the Acta Paediatrica published this study. The World Health Organization has been focused on the elimination of measles for a while. This may be a little a setback in their quest as more infants will be open to the disease, especially in some of the poorer nations of Africa where immunization is not as available, and yet there are many HIV positive mothers.
Measles is still one of the biggest killers when it comes to children. Pneumonia, blindness, diarrhea, and dehydration are just some the complications of the disease that make it so life threatening. There were 139,300 deaths from this extremely contagious disease in 2010 alone. But these numbers have actually been curbed by immunization. Back in the 80’s, the death toll from measles was totaling over two and half million per year. Now, because 85% of children are immunized by age one, that number, while still tragic, has been greatly reduced.
The test was done by comparing the blood samples of ten babies from HIV positive mothers who were not born with HIV, with the blood of ten healthy babies whose mothers did not have HIV. The researchers found a dramatic difference in the antibodies of the babies from the HIV positive mothers who could not pass on immunities like the mother without HIV did.
While most babies are immune to measles for a little while after birth and have time to wait for immunization, babies born from HIV positive mothers lose their immunity much faster and need to be immunized much sooner to prevent risk of infection.
Study Shows High-Dose Multivitamins Don’t Benefit HAART Patients
12 years ago
A new study was conducted at Harvard University which shows that HIV patients who are receiving HAART (highly active antiretroviral therapy) don’t get any more benefits from a high-dose multivitamin than they would from a regular dose. It is the first time that a study has been done on such a large scale to see the difference in results of HAART clinical trials when combined with different amounts of vitamin intake.
The Journal of the American Medical Association recorded the study in its October 17, 2012 issue. The reason for the test was to compare results with other studies that showed these high doses slowed disease progression in individuals not being treated with HAART. While HAART is a big step in treating HIV, it still does not completely repair the immune system, and takes a number of months before it becomes effective. Thus, researchers wanted to see if the vitamins could boost the results.
The study was conducted on a group of over 3,400 patients over the course of 2 years. Half of the patients received ultra high doses of vitamins such as B, C, and E, while the others received a regular dose.
There are several ways to measure HIV progression. Among these are BMI, CD4 count, hemoglobin level concentration, and plasma viral load. According to the study, the high dose vitamin takers experienced the same progression of the disease and mortality rate. In fact, there may be detrimental effects as ALT enzyme levels are raised which can possibly result in liver problems and other complications.
While high doses of vitamins are both safe and somewhat effective for HIV patients who are not being treated with HAART, the opposite seems to be true of those receiving this medical treatment. Primarily the test has proven to researchers that more studies must be done.
Micro nutrients help to maintain our body’s immune system and are thus being researched to help those with immune disorders like HIV/AIDS. Future studies will consider that perhaps in this case, less really is more.
Is There a Correlation Between AIDS Progression and Intestinal Viruses?
12 years ago
by ADMIN
in HIV Science
It is well known that gastrointestinal complications are a part of advanced AIDS in both humans and monkeys. These intestinal problems lead to advanced immune deficiency, and ultimately progression of the disease into its final stages. However, researchers have learned for the first time that these intestinal complications are being caused by other separate viruses. What does this mean for HIV patients? Identifying the viruses that affect the intestines may allow scientists to slow the progress of AIDS by fighting this progression trigger.
The feces of monkeys with SIV (the primate equivalent of HIV) was tested to genetically sequence the viruses found in the intestines. They actually found a significant number of previously indescribable intestinal viruses. While researchers do not yet understand why SIV positive monkeys have these viruses, the connection may lie in the composition of their immune system.
There were also blood-borne viruses found in the fecal matter of the monkeys that were tested. They not only found DNA viruses but also RNA viruses. Now another connection is being sought between these types of viruses.
There are two sides to this discovery. First of all, the research is hoped to help scientists learn how to slow down the progression of AIDS. The other possibility is that intestinal virus testing may allow individuals to discover the current progression of their disease. This could make tracking the progression of the disease much more feasible in the future via testing for the presence of these other viruses.
