New Study Developing an Injection that Can Kick and Kill HIV Hiding in the Patient's Body

[Steven_Draker]

New Study Developing an Injection that Can Kick and Kill HIV Hiding in the Patient's Body

http://cdn.crossmap.com/images/2/40/24044.jpg

 

 

A 59-year-old man from London has caused researchers to develop a vaccine that can kick and kill HIV virus hiding in the body. new strategy targets the immune system to locate HIV hiding in the body and expose it; therefore making it easier for medical specialists to kill it.

 

 

The 'kick and kill' injection can flush out dormant HIV hiding in the white blood cells then allowing the cured white blood cells identify and 'kick' the other hiding HIV from the body.

 

The recent study is based on a research done by University College London, University of Oxford and University of North Carolina. However the study is just based on one patient.

 

According to Dr. Ravi Gupta (University College London), "Our study shows that the immune system can be as powerful as the most potent combination drug cocktails. We're still a long way from being able to cure HIV patients, as we still need to develop and test effective vaccines, but this study takes us one step closer by showing us what type of immune responses an effective vaccine should induce."

 

The study was based on a 59-year old man from London, who was an 'elite controller', what this meant is that his immune system can control HIV without the need for treatment. According to studies, 'Elite Controllers' make up about 0.3 % of HIV patients. These patients can go for long period of time without a need for treatment, but they will eventually need treatment, to make their immune systems more active against HIV.

 

The person in the study has HIV and myeloma (bone marrow cancer). When his bone marrow was removed, his immune system was heavily impaired which allowed the HIV virus to reactivated and replicate.

 

However, 2 weeks after the stem cell transplant, the HIV level in his bloodstream fell rapidly.

 

According to Professor Deenan Pillay (University College of London), "By measuring the strength of the immune system required to keep this virus under control in this rare individual, we have a better idea of the requirements for successful future treatment. We also managed to identify the specific immune cells that fought the infection. This is a single patient study, but nevertheless it is often the unusual patients who help us to understand the HIV disease process."

 

Dr. Ravi Gupta added, "Our study shows that the immune system can be as powerful as the most potent combination drug cocktails. We're still a long way from being able to cure HIV patients, but this study takes us one step closer, showing us what type of immune responses an effective vaccine should induce."

 

According to Dr. Nilu Goonetilleke (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), "We need to be cautious in interpreting observations from a single subject. However, demonstration even from a single subject, that our immune system can rapidly control HIV-1 tells us a lot about the types of immune responses we should target and augment through vaccination."

 

Dr. Ravi Gupta added, "Drugs to stimulate reactivation of dormant HIV are still imperfect, and we do not know if they would be able to flush out all of the HIV from the body. Likewise, it remains to be seen whether a vaccine could enable a normal HIV patient's immune system to kill HIV with the full strength of an elite controller. Our study is a proof of principle and the results are promising, but it is unlikely to lead to a cure for at least a decade."

[Str8boyluvr]

My academic advisor in grad school had a PhD in virology. I had always been fascinated by viruses (still am) and almost switched to the Virology program. Instead, I took every grad level course on viruses, including some specifically on the HIV virus, I could find. One has to be very careful when reading reports like this.

 

Without typing a novel or going into technical detail, most top academic researchers do not feel we can ever create a true vaccine against HIV and I agree. The thing is they won't go public for fear of losing NSF or NIH funding. The most progress will likely be made in treating unborn children who are at risk for contracting it from the mother. As for everyone else, future approved therapies will probably focus on preventing the spread of the disease and extending the duration between HIV infection and AIDS.

 

I'm always willing to get into scientific discussions on this, and give specifics from the research in question that support my views, if anyone wants to contact me. The HIV virus is so unbelievably complex in what it can do to spread and avoid detection despite it's relatively simple architecture. Keep in mind there is more than one strain of HIV and they mutate heavily. I remember leaving many a lecture or research symposium struggling to understand how something so simple could be so complex at the molecular level.

 

Regarding a vaccine, I hope to be proven wrong in my lifetime. I've been to one funeral where the deceased passed from AIDS - a former roommate of mine, and a very sweet man. And that was one too many.

[Str8boyluvr]

HIV grows despite treatment, study finds

Published: Tuesday 4 August 2015 at 8am

HIV can continue to grow in patients who are thought to be responding well to treatment, according to research by the University of Liverpool.

 

During treatment for HIV the virus hides in blood cells that are responsible for the patient's immune response. The virus does this by inserting its own genetic information into the DNA of the blood cells, called CD4 Tlymphocytes.

 

The study by the University's Institute of Infection and Global Health measured the levels of integrated HIV in the CD4 cells of patients undergoing uninterrupted treatment for up to 14 years, and compared patients receiving treatment for different lengths of time.

 

The researchers discovered that the amount of HIV found to be integrated in the CD4 cells was undiminished from year 1 to year 14.

 

The research demonstrates that whenever a CD4 cell multiplies to produce more cells, it copies itself and also copies the HIV genes. This process - a sort of silent HIV replication - means the virus does not need to copy itself, produce new virus particles, and infect new CD4 cells - but is automatically incorporated at the birth of the cell.

 

Anti-retroviral therapy is given to HIV patients to stop the production of new virus which prevents the infection and death of CD4 T-lymphocytes and the further progression of the disease.

 

Advances in anti-retroviral therapy over the last 30 years mean that most patients can have their virus suppressed to almost undetectable levels and live a long and healthy life. It had been thought that after many years of successful treatment, the body would naturally purge itself of the virus.

 

Professor Anna Maria Geretti, who led the study, said: "This research shows that sadly, the HIV virus has found yet another way to escape our treatments.

 

"We always knew HIV is difficult to suppress completely and that it hides inside CD4 cells, but we always hoped that as the body gradually renews its CD4 cells that the hidden HIV would die out. We were surprised to find that the levels of HIV integrated in the CD4 cells didn't reduce over the 14-year period.

 

"The good news is that we did not see any worsening over time, but the bad news is that these findings really cast doubt over whether HIV can be 'cured' by increasing immune cell responses against it - a strategy that now looks like it will eventually fail."

 

The results are published in the journal EBioMedicine.