Doctors may have found a way to destroy HIV

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"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.

It’s naturally produced by people, like lupus patients. When they applied that abzyme to the HIV virus, it permanently disarmed it.

"What we already have in our hand are the abzymes that we could be infusing into the human subjects with HIV infection, essentially to move the virus," Paul said.

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.

http://www.fox11az.com/news/topstories/sto...h.1971ecbd.html

[pedroh 21]

wow.. that could be one of the greatest medical advances of this century

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of all time!

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UT Pathologists Believe They Have Pinpointed Achilles Heel of HIV

Pictured from left to right are: Paul, Yasuhiro Nishiyama, Ph.D., and Stephanie Planque.

HOUSTON—(July 3, 2008)—Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) researchers at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston believe they have uncovered the Achilles heel in the armor of the virus that continues to kill millions.

The weak spot is hidden in the HIV envelope protein gp120. This protein is essential for HIV attachment to host cells, which initiate infection and eventually lead to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or AIDS. Normally the body’s immune defenses can ward off viruses by making proteins called antibodies that bind the virus. However, HIV is a constantly changing and mutating virus, and the antibodies produced after infection do not control disease progression to AIDS. For the same reason, no HIV preventative vaccine that stimulates production of protective antibodies is available.

The Achilles heel, a tiny stretch of amino acids numbered 421-433 on gp120, is now under study as a target for therapeutic intervention. Sudhir Paul, Ph.D., pathology professor in the UT Medical School, said, “Unlike the changeable regions of its envelope, HIV needs at least one region that must remain constant to attach to cells. If this region changes, HIV cannot infect cells. Equally important, HIV does not want this constant region to provoke the body’s defense system. So, HIV uses the same constant cellular attachment site to silence B lymphocytes - the antibody producing cells. The result is that the body is fooled into making abundant antibodies to the changeable regions of HIV but not to its cellular attachment site. Immunologists call such regions superantigens. HIV’s cleverness is unmatched. No other virus uses this trick to evade the body’s defenses.â€

Paul is the senior author on a paper about this theory in a June issue of the journal Autoimmunity Reviews. Additional data supporting the theory are to be presented at the XVII International AIDS Conference Aug. 3-8 in Mexico City in two studies titled “Survivors of HIV infection produce potent, broadly neutralizing IgAs directed to the superantigenic region of the gp120 CD4 binding site†and “Prospective clinical utility and evolutionary implication of broadly neutralizing antibody fragments to HIV gp120 superantigenic epitope.â€

First reported in the early 1980s, HIV has spread across the world, particularly in developing countries. In 2007, 33 million people were living with AIDS, according to a report by the World Health Organization and the United Nations.

Paul’s group has engineered antibodies with enzymatic activity, also known as abzymes, which can attack the Achilles heel of the virus in a precise way. “The abzymes recognize essentially all of the diverse HIV forms found across the world. This solves the problem of HIV changeability. The next step is to confirm our theory in human clinical trials," Paul said.

Unlike regular antibodies, abzymes degrade the virus permanently. A single abzyme molecule inactivates thousands of virus particles. Regular antibodies inactivate only one virus particle, and their anti-viral HIV effect is weaker.

“The work of Dr. Paul’s group is highly innovative. They have identified antibodies that, instead of passively binding to the target molecule, are able to fragment it and destroy its function. Their recent work indicates that naturally occurring catalytic antibodies, particularly those of the IgA subtype, may be useful in the treatment and prevention of HIV infection,†said Steven J. Norris, Ph.D., holder of the Robert Greer Professorship in the Biomedical Sciences and vice chair for research in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the UT Medical School at Houston.

The abzymes are derived from HIV negative people with the autoimmune disease lupus and a small number of HIV positive people who do not require treatment and do not get AIDS. Stephanie Planque, lead author and UT Medical School at Houston graduate student, said, “We discovered that disturbed immunological events in lupus patients can generate abzymes to the Achilles heel of HIV. The human genome has accumulated over millions of years of evolution a lot of viral fragments called endogenous retroviral sequences. These endogenous retroviral sequences are overproduced in people with lupus, and an immune response to such a sequence that resembles the Achilles heel can explain the production of abzymes in lupus. A small minority of HIV positive people also start producing the abzymes after decades of the infection. The immune system in some people can cope with HIV after all.â€

Carl Hanson, Ph.D., who heads the Retrovirus Diagnostic Section of the Viral and Rickettsial Disease Laboratory of the California Department of Public Health, has shown that the abzymes neutralize infection of human blood cells by diverse strains of HIV from various parts of the world. Human blood cells are the only cells that HIV infects.

“This is an entirely new finding. It is a novel antibody that appears to be very effective in killing the HIV virus. The main question now is if this can be applied to developing vaccine and possibly used as a microbicide to prevent sexual transmission,†said David C. Montefiori, Ph.D., director of the Laboratory for AIDS Vaccine Research & Development at Duke University Medical Center. The abzymes are now under development for HIV immunotherapy by infusion into blood. They could also be used to guard against sexual HIV transmission as topical vaginal or rectal formulations.

“HIV is an international priority because we have no defense against it,†Paul said. “Left unchecked, it will likely evolve into even more virulent forms. We have learned a lot from this research about how to induce the production of the protective abzymes on demand. This is the Holy Grail of HIV research -- development of a preventative HIV vaccine.â€

Major contributors to the research from the UT Medical School include Yasuhiro Nishiyama, Ph.D., and Hiroaki Taguchi, Ph.D., both with the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and Miguel Escobar, M.D., of the Department of Pediatrics. Maria Salas and Hanson, both with the Viral and Rickettsial Disease Laboratory, contributed.

The journal article is titled “Catalytic antibodies to HIV: Physiological role and potential clinical utilityâ€. The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Edited July 30, 2008 by A.J.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

How else will God punish the homosexuals?

[Asante Maroon 0]

Thanks for sharing A.J. You always are informative!

[chris-lei 1]

That would be the greatest medical breakthrough of our time! Praise God!

[MrsCat 6]

wow.. that could be one of the greatest medical advances of this century

[Ban Hammer 14,586]

it's a bogus story, folks.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

it's a bogus story, folks.

Do you a link that makes that claim???

[Ban Hammer 14,586]

it's a bogus story, folks.

Do you a link that makes that claim???

two things, both contained in the op:

it's fox news

scientists in texas? not possible, it's full of rednecks!

"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.

[kerewin21 2]

Ummm, not bogus, a real article in a real medical journal (Auto-Immune Reviews). It's real research and medically plausible, and I pray it's the thing that finally lets us beat this horrible disease.

For the scientifically inclined:

Immunoglobulins (Igs) in uninfected humans recognize residues 421-433 located in the B cell superantigenic site (SAg) of the HIV envelope protein gp120 and catalyze its hydrolysis by a serine protease-like mechanism. The catalytic activity is encoded by germline Ig variable (V) region genes, and is expressed at robust levels by IgMs and IgAs but poorly by IgGs. Mucosal IgAs are highly catalytic and neutralize HIV, suggesting that they constitute a first line of defense against HIV. Lupus patients produce the Igs at enhanced levels. Homology of the 421-433 region with an endogenous retroviral sequence and a bacterial protein may provide clues about the antigen driving anti-SAg synthesis in lupus patients and uninfected subjects. The potency and breadth of HIV neutralization revives hopes of clinical application of catalytic anti-421-433 Igs as immunotherapeutic and topical microbicide reagents. Adaptive improvement of anti-SAg catalytic Igs in HIV infected subjects is not customary. Further study of the properties of the naturally occurring anti-SAg catalytic Igs should provide valuable guidance in designing a prophylactic vaccine that amplifies protective catalytic immunity to HIV.

Autoimmun Rev. 2008 Jun;7(6):473-9

[adam75 0]

How else will God punish the homosexuals?

Probably with another disease : http://www.55a.net/firas/english/?page=sho...p;select_page=8

[morocco4ever 63]

So does that mean that the world will go back to the "free love" days of the 60's? Oh wait, did we ever leave those day? (Insert confused smiley here)

[SteveLaura 0]

How else will God punish the homosexuals?

He will take away their impeccable dress sense and talent for interior design.