States should collect name-based data on all people who test positive for HIV infection, advises the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The recommendation comes in the draft version of the CDC s Guidelines for National HIV Case Surveillance, Including Monitoring for HIV Infection and Acquired Immuno
Mouse experiments appear to pave the way to vaccines capable of eliciting long-lasting cellular immunity. Such immunity is critical for prevention of diseases such as tuberculosis, leishmaniasis, and AIDS. NIH researchers Sanjay Gurunathan, Robert A. Seder, and colleagues conducted mouse experiments showing that cellul
Are they protected, or are they slowly progressing to AIDS? This is the question that looms over the Sydney Blood Bank Cohort (SBBC): a group of people infected with a very special strain of HIV via blood transfusions from an infected donor (see Vaccine Weekly, March 17, 1997 and January 20, 1997). What makes these pat
Memory persists, according to a mathematical model. It remains unknown how immunologic memory - the ability of the immune system to mount an expedient response to a pathogen it has seen before - is maintained. The answer isn t Methuselah-aged lymphocytes: these key immune cells turn over many times in a person s lifeti
It looked like bad news for HIV protease inhibitors (PIs): but never mind. The drugs are the cornerstones of most highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) regimens. Recent studies seemed to predict trouble: they showed that PIs interact with the multidrug resistance protein MDR1 (also known as P-glycoprotein or Pgp
AIDS patients who have exhausted their treatment options desperately await ABT-378, Abbott s second-generation protease inhibitor. Now their patience is exhausted, too. A new advocacy group, The Coalition for Salvage Therapy, has sent a letter to Abbott Laboratories demanding that the firm immediately begin trials of t
New HIV treatment guidelines for the first time list a drug other than a protease inhibitor as a linchpin of combination therapy . Recommended highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) regimens have always been based on the use of at least one protease inhibitor. But a head-to-head clinical trial showed that one mem
Patients already treated with one member of a potent class of anti-HIV drugs likely will obtain reduced benefit from new drugs in this class. Recent studies have shown that efavirenz, recently approved, has extraordinarily potent anti-HIV activity. Efavirenz is a member of the highly specific non-nucleoside reverse
Treatment recommendations based on measures of HIV burden must be changed for women, alarming new findings suggest. The new data show that women with HIV infection have lower viral load measurements than men. This would appear to be good news: but the data also shows that women develop AIDS as quickly as men. These fi
One person in ten is genetically programmed to rapidly develop AIDS after HIV infection. Several genetic variants have been found to offer various degrees of protection against AIDS. New findings by National Cancer Institute researchers Maureen P. Martin and colleagues are the first to identify an AIDS-accelerating gen
Do most T-cell receptors (TCRs) act as on/off switches or as dimmer switches? Science is now on the verge of a major breakthrough in understanding the regulation of cellular immunity. Ligands capable of partially activating T cells - known as altered peptide ligands (APL), TCR partial agonists, or TCR antagonists - hav
The sheer number of Africans affected by the epidemic is overwhelming, reads the December 1998 AIDS update from the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS ( UNAIDS ) and the World Health Organization (WHO). And according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prvention (CDC), Americans of African descent are al
Genetic regulation may be the key to the mysterious ability of CD8(+) T cells to suppress HIV replication. CD8(+) from healthy HIV infected individuals is able to suppress HIV in CD4(+) T-cell cultures without killing infected cells. This activity is mediated by a soluble factor or factors and does not depend on human
A U.S. research team has confirmed that cotton rats can be infected with HIV-1. The virus infecting the animals could be passaged in vivo. However, it established only low-level, nonpathogenic infections. But the findings provide hope for an inexpensive new animal model for AIDS. To this end the researchers are hoping
A new tool promises to unlock the secrets of the spring-loaded harpoon used by HIV to infect target cells. One reason why antibodies fail to neutralize HIV is that a key element in fusion of the virus to target cells - the gp41 transmembrane glycoprotein - remains tucked away like a coiled coil. Events triggered by bin
An HIV vaccine strategy showed that it can elicit potent T-cell responses in monkeys and mice. Animals primed with a DNA vaccine encoding HIV-1 antigens and then boosted with a recombinant fowlpox virus (rFPV) vaccine expressing the same antigens were able to resist challenge. Protection appeared to be due to HIV-1 spe
A new type of anti-HIV drug is as effective against the AIDS virus as any of the most powerful drugs now in use. But the new drug has a very brief half life and, like insulin, can only be administered by twice-daily injections or continuous subcutaneous infusion. The drug, T-20 (pentafuside, previously dubbed DP-178, T
A compound originally extracted from a Bolivian medicinal plant inhibits the HIV-1 integrase enzyme and has at least additive anti-HIV effects with approved antiretroviral drugs. The compound, L-chicoric acid, is a dicaffeoylquinic acid. W.E. Robinson, Jr., of the University of California, Irvine, reported at the 1996
The finding that HIV can inhibit its own protease enzyme may lead to a new class of AIDS therapies. Columbia University researchers Mary Jane Potash, David J. Volsky, and colleagues have found that the HIV virion infectivity factor (the Vif protein) inhibits HIV protease during the normal life cycle of the virus. Th
As antiretroviral therapy regimens change, so should treatment goals, a leading clinician argues. Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) regimens can provide durable suppression of HIV replication. But when these regimens begin to fail, clinicians are left with the thorny problem of what to do next - and when to
Hit hard and hit early? Or hit hard enough, relatively early? Clinicians face a terrible dilemma when advising asymptomatic patients with established HIV infection on when - and whether - to begin highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Begin early, some researchers advise, because later there will be a higher vi
It should be U.S. policy to test all pregnant women for HIV, advises a blue-ribbon committee of the Institute of Medicine (IOM). Moreover, the committee recommends that all women found to be infected with the AIDS virus should be given zidovudine ( AZT ) to prevent transmission to their child. The sweeping recom
It is no longer possible to test all AIDS therapy regimens in controlled clinical trials. There are more potential combinations of new AIDS therapies than can be tested in randomized trials. This leaves observational databases as the only means of evaluating these combinations. But such evaluations are fraught with dan
It s not just the viral load. The measure used by most HIV clinicians to evaluate the efficacy of antiretroviral drugs gives an incomplete picture, a cohort study suggests. Instead, the amount by which treatment decreases viral load appears to be the factor best associated with treatment success. At least a 3 log viral
A wave of new AIDS drugs is ready for clinical testing. But it s the wave after that which is most likely to be revolutionary, says Harvard researcher Scott Hammer. New agents derived from the existing drug classes ... are in development and hopefully will provide potency and activity against drug-resistant strains, H
A new analysis of data from Merck Pharmaceutical Company s Study 028 shows comparable effects on disease progression among men and women as a result of treatment with Crixivan (R) ( indinavir sulfate). The study, a clinical endpoint trial of 996 previously untreated HIV patients
Patients who receive highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) during primary HIV infection may never get AIDS - even if they stop taking the drugs. And with some 44,000 new HIV infections expected in the U.S. in the coming year, a major effort should be made to identify and treat such patients, argued Bruce D. Walk
A compensatory mutation in its gag gene lets HIV-1 develop resistance to a new protease inhibitor. The gag mutations permit the virus to remain viable despite the mutations it must adopt in its protease gene to withstand the powerful new drug, Abbott s ABT-378. Despite these changes, the virus remained sensitive to saq
Cheers for Dupont have turned to angry cries. Excitement over U.S. Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) approval of Dupont Pharma s anti-HIV drug Sustiva (efavirenz) has been muted by the firm s announcement that the drug s wholesale price will be $4000 per year. Pharmacies are charging $4800 per year.
First results from large-scale efficacy trials of conjugate pneumococcal vaccines will become available in 1999. The trials are now underway in the U.S., Finland , and South Africa , reported Juhani Eskola of the National Public Health Institute in Helsinki, Finland, in a presentation to the American Soci
High-avidity antibodies are a key correlate of protective immunity to pneumococci. The finding comes from a molecular analysis of antibodies produced by healthy adults in response to Streptococcus pneumoniae capsular polysaccharides (PPS). These studies have begun to define the genetic and functional bases of PPS-speci
Events early in the course of HIV infection determine whether a person will develop AIDS-associated lymphoma (AAL). New studies suggest that HIV induced perturbations in B-cell immune responses - caused, perhaps, by viral superantigens - increase a person s lymphoma risk. The results of our study are consistent with th
Whether a live AIDS vaccine protects or kills appears due to as-yet-unidentified host factors. The finding comes from the most extensive study to date of rhesus monkeys given a prototype live, attenuated AIDS vaccine (SIVmac239 delta nef) and then challenged with pathogenic virus (SIVmac251). Aaron Diamond AIDS Researc
Calm down, everyone. This is the message for both sides in the increasingly vituperative debate over possible human trials of a live attenuated AIDS vaccine. The message comes from the man responsible for developing the vaccine. A debate over the issue at the recent XII World AIDS Conference in Geneva demonstrated the
The U.S. market for aids therapies grew to $1 billion in 1997: a 195.7 percent increase over the previous year. And as more U.S. patients buy more of the therapies - and thus live longer to buy even more - the market will keep growing for at least the rest of the decade, according to a new report by Datamonitor, a New
A new HIV-1 variant may escape detection by current antibody-based tests for the virus. The virus and its three subsequently discovered relatives belong neither to the main group (group M) or to the outlyer group (Group O) of HIV-1. Discoverers Francois Simon and colleagues propose naming the new group Group N for new
People with HIV disease are not cash cows. Companies that bring potent new antiretroviral drugs to market deserve a reward in addition to compensation for development costs. But this reward cannot come at the cost of collapsing the fragile system that makes it possible for many people with HIV disease to stay alive.
Sexual transmission of HIV appears possible only when the cells lining body cavities are disturbed, a CDC study suggests. The in vitro findings suggest that HIV can t penetrate normal mucosal epithelial barriers. They focus attention on factors - such as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) - that may help the virus en
Aggressive treatment soon after HIV infection appears to prevent one of the earliest HIV-associated immune defects. Hugo Soudeyns of Beaumont Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland , and colleagues analyzed cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) subsets in 24 patients with primary HIV infection. The 11 patients who received no trea
Successful anti-HIV therapy slowly permits T-cell repertoires to normalize - but new perturbations can occur. One of the earliest immune dysfunctions in HIV disease occurs early after infection, when oligoclonal expansion of CD8(+) T-cells leads to exhaustion of some cellular immune functions. Now Guy Gorochov of Pitie
Two of the world s great lights have gone out. The loss of Drs. Mary Lou Clements-Mann and Jonathan M. Mann in the crash of Swissair Flight 111 represents a terrible blow to the international AIDS effort. The two researchers followed different paths, but shortly before their deaths each made major efforts to support em
Animals vaccinated with a candidate AIDS vaccine have increased levels of anti-HIV chemokines. In HIV infected chimpanzees, vaccination-induced increases in the chemokines correlated with decreased viral load and induction of other anti-HIV immune responses. DNA vaccines for HIV-1 may be an important tool to modulate i
CDC studies of women who remain uninfected despite extremely frequent exposure to HIV at last are yielding important clues to making an AIDS vaccine. Thai sex workers who resist HIV infection have high levels of monocyte-derived factors that suppress HIV infection, according to Salvatore T. Butera of the U.S. Centers f
HIV has yet another pernicious trick: it vaccinates against antiviral defenses. New data suggest that epitopes carried in the V3 loop of the HIV-1 envelope elicit antibodies. These antibodies don t seem to hurt HIV: but they attack and immobilize beta chemokines, the body s first-line defense against HIV infection.
AIDS drugs cost a lot. But they save society a bundle. Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) - now the standard of care for the industrialized world - has greatly reduced AIDS incidence. And while HAART isn t cheap, its cost is far less than the cost of treating AIDS. HAART is arguably the most cost-effective ma
New strategies to block HIV infection may have untoward side effects. Such strategies would block or down-regulate the CCR5 chemokine receptor needed for macrophage-tropic (M-tropic) HIV-1 strains to infect cells. M-tropic strains are responsible for the vast majority of HIV infections. People homozygous for a naturall
Experimental AIDS vaccines protected only monkeys with already- high levels of beta chemokines in a Swedish study. Researchers Rigmor Thorstensson and colleagues expected to find that vaccines capable of protecting monkeys against intrarectal challenge with pathogenic simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) would stimulate
It would be a mistake to focus all AIDS research activities on a vaccine, says HIV co-discoverer Robert Gallo. Gallo warned that even though they represent immense progress, current AIDS therapies are not good enough. He urged researchers and policymakers to prioritize the search for better and less toxic AIDS therapie
A live, recombinant vaccinia virus that expresses multiple HIV antigens is well tolerated by humans, early trial results show. The vaccine, dubbed TBC-3B by manufacturer Therion Biologics Corp., expresses the HIV env, gag, and pol genes. The trial enrolled 36 HIV negative volunteers who received the vaccine (or vaccini
Nothing went right for Charles Farthing in his eloquent defense of testing a live HIV vaccine. In a debate at the 12th World AIDS Conference, everything seemed to work against the AIDS clinician and researcher who has volunteered to be the first subject to be injected with an attenuated HIV virus. The meeting room work
Clinical trials already are underway to test a new drug that blocks HIV infection. In vitro studies of the drug suggest that when HIV acquires resistance to the drug, it may lose its ability to infect T cells. The drug is the bicyclam compound dubbed AMD3100, manufactured by AnorMed, Langley, British Columbia,
A big gap separates real patients responses to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) from the responses reported in clinical trials. Why don t my patients look like the patients in clinical trials? asked Melanie Thompson, founder of the AIDS Research Consortium of Atlanta, Georgia, in a presentation to the 12th
With AIDS spreading so rapidly throughout the world, it comes as something of a shock to learn that AIDS prevention works. But it does: and researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have organized systems to learn, and to teach, the most effective methods. The CDC has established the Prev
More than half of the volunteers who received a candidate AIDS vaccine developed durable, HIV specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) responses. The vaccine is a canarypox virus engineered to express HIV genes. The virus is capable only of a single round of expression in human cells and has proven safe in earlier human t
HIV protease inhibitors (PIs) frequently disrupt normal lipid metabolism, a new hypothesis suggests. The hypothesis explains the various disfiguring side effects (distended abdomen, buffalo hump on the back of the neck, enlarged breasts in women, wasting in the face and limbs) and metabolic events (diabetes, increased
HIV-1 has yet another amazing trick up its sleeve: its Tat protein can inhibit some strains of HIV. This seeming contradiction provides an answer to the long-standing question of exactly why, when a transmitting individual carries both T-cell-tropic (T-tropic) and macrophage-tropic (M-tropic) HIV strains, only the M-tr
HIV-1 issues a siren call to uninfected cells, luring them to lymphoid tissues crawling with virus. The AIDS virus docks to susceptible cells via specific chemokine receptors. Since chemokines act as cellular messengers that tell T cells when and where to go, it is possible that HIV binding itself sends a message affec
Is it better to fire all of your guns at once or to save your best for last? For HIV disease-management strategies, it s still an open question. And the answer has implications for the treatment of other chronic viral infections such as hepatitis, herpes, and papilloma viruses. Given that current drugs cannot eradicate
Every five seconds, AIDS prevention fails. HIV infects 16,000 people every day. Most of these people soon will die from treatable diseases such as tuberculosis. A relative few, fortunate enough both to have access to state-of-the-art treatments and to withstand their side effects, will survive for extended periods.
The only thing missing is the main thing. People with HIV disease who receive highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) regain immune function: except for immunity to the AIDS virus. Successful HAART does not seem to induce a recovery of HIV specific immune responses, said Ann-Charlotte Leandersson of the Karolinska
Most health-care workers would rather risk HIV infection than take commonly-prescribed antiretroviral drugs. A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study shows that most health-care workers accidentally exposed to HIV don t finish taking recommended drugs to prevent infection. Providing more informatio
Two drug firms should be immensely encouraged by their performance at the 12th World AIDS conference. DuPont Pharma and Bristol-Myers Squibb made giant leaps in their effort to wrest market share from Glaxo, the overwhelming market leader. Efavirenz (trade name
They say it s a counseling plan, not a drug plan. San Francisco health authorities say they will forge ahead with a controversial study that provides antiretroviral drugs to people who think they may have been exposed to HIV. The trial program, known as post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), is aimed at people who have had u
The National Institutes of Health fails to grasp the urgency of developing an AIDS vaccine, a leading AIDS researcher asserts. Only an empirical approach and decisive leadership can produce an effective HIV vaccine, argued Mary Lou Clements-Mann of Johns Hopkins University. Now is the time for reassessment of governmen
The Republic of Georgia is ripe for the spread of AIDS. A survey of high-school students reveals an alarming frequency of unsafe sex, misconceptions about HIV and AIDS, and the kind of blame- the-victim attitudes that have preceded AIDS outbreaks in other vulnerable areas. The Republic of Georgia offers a great opportu
Children with rapidly progressive HIV disease may benefit from thymus transplants. The thymus is an important immune organ in children, who need the organ to generate CD4(+) T cells. Early attempts to provide thymus transplants to HIV(+) children with thymic dysfunction and rapidly progressive HIV disease were only par
Nearly half of patients diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB) had an undiagnosed HIV infection in a U.S. study. Moreover, a large proportion of patients with HIV develop TB because they do not receive recommended preventative treatment. These patients often do not feel sick when they are first diagnosed with HIV, said Rober
Glaxo is about to jump into the market for HIV protease inhibitors with both feet. Protease inhibitors have revolutionized the treatment of HIV infection and are the cornerstone of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Amprenavir (formerly VX-478 or 141W94), developed by Vertex
Intervention can change high-risk sex behavior - even in populations generally considered difficult to reach. The intervention includes group education, role playing, teaching of communications skills, motivation training, and goal setting. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Multisite HIV Prevention Trial -
Indirect destruction of undifferentiated blood cells may underlie the profound loss of T cells in AIDS. If so, it is more bad news for people with HIV infection. The finding means that antiretroviral drugs themselves - even when highly active - are unlikely to reverse the damage done by the virus. Even though HIV direc
It s not like the space race. That s the opinion of the independent AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC) on the first anniversary of President Bill Clinton s avowed 10-year, all-out effort to develop an AIDS vaccine. The organization says that Clinton s program lacks the energy and commitment of President John F. Ken
A pilot study suggests that a vitamin-like agent - in the absence of any other therapy - can reverse T-cell declines in patients with asymptomatic HIV infection. Eight of the 11 patients in the study had increased CD4 counts after four months of the treatment. No toxicities occurred. The fact that the increases occurre
A normal cell-surface enzyme may pave the way for HIV to destroy immunologic memory. The finding provides an explanation for the selective loss of memory T cells during HIV infection. It may also provide clues to the development of an AIDS therapy. The new data spring from the recent finding that HIV-1 takes advantage
A Japanese deal to develop and possibly test an AIDS vaccine in Thailand has been blasted as unethical. The accusation, by an unnamed leading Japanese researcher cited in a news article in the journal Nature Medicine (1998;4(5):540), represents the latest salvo in an ongoing squabble among AIDS vaccine researchers.
Intensive evaluation has failed to corroborate transient HIV infection. There have been several reports of infants apparently infected with HIV who were later found to be uninfected. Because these studies used highly accurate tests for the virus - viral isolation or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis - they had b
The new formulation of Roche s HIV protease inhibitor has joined the ranks of recommended AIDS therapies. Earlier recommendations issued by a panel of experts convened by the National Institutes of Health did not include Roche s saquinavir in its initial formulation (hard-gel capsules, trade name Invir
Vaccinology, until very recently the Cinderella of the medical/pharmaceutical industry, at last has been invited to the ball. Marking its emergence, the first supplement to the journal Nature Medicine is dedicated to vaccinology. The issue, which carries no advertising, is sponsored by the Merck Vaccine Division.
Rapid global access to vaccines is possible even for new vaccines, a World Bank health specialist suggests. The key to global vaccine access is a tiered pricing system, argues Amie Batson of the World Bank s Human Development Network. Tiered pricing allows appropriate prices to be set for different markets early in the
A strategy borrowed from cancer research would ask the immune system to identify HIV vaccine antigens. The tactic would use human leukocyte antigens (HLA) from people who resist HIV infection to identify HIV epitopes capable of stimulating potent anti-HIV immune responses. The technique, which has been used to develop
A blockbuster biotech breakthrough could revolutionize the rapidly expanding vaccine industry, says Michel Greco, CEO of Pasteur Merieux MSD and president of the European Vaccine Manufacturers Association. Greco warned that such a technological breakthrough could come from any of a number of different fields of inquiry
The discovery of a unique marker that identifies anergic T cells now makes possible the direct study of a major aspect of immunity. Induction of T-cell anergy is thought to be a major process in preventing the immune system from attacking normal self cells. The process also is implicated in the lack of response to seve
Why not just say it? In a carefully worded editorial, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has advised all states not currently requiring name-based, laboratory reporting of positive HIV tests to implement integrated HIV and AIDS surveillance. States identified by the CDC as already having integra
A novel phenotypic assay for HIV drug resistance soon will be commercially available. The test, developed by the Belgian biotechnology firm VIRCO and distributed in the U.S., Canada , and Europe by Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp, Burlington, North Carolina), will be offered beginning July 1998.
The new formulation of Roche s HIV protease inhibitor has joined the ranks of recommended AIDS therapies. Earlier recommendations issued by a panel of experts convened by the National Institutes of Health did not include Roche s saquinavir in its initial formulation (hard-gel capsules, trade name Invir
Exciting results from a rigorous animal model of AIDS suggest that a recombinant vaccine can protect against HIV infection and disease. The recombinant NYVAC-SIV vaccine encodes simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) antigens in an attenuated vaccinia virus. A human version of the vaccine (using the ALVAC canarypox vector
An accident of nature may provide the key to an AIDS vaccine. Serum from a person with long-term nonprogressive HIV infection is able to recognize a wide variety of HIV isolates from many different viral subtypes. These antibodies suggest that this individual mounted an immune response to an HIV antigen capable of elic
Three HIV infected patients who received an experimental AIDS vaccine had significant and sustained decreases in viral load. The vaccine, developed at New York s Albert Einstein College of Medicine and licensed to ID Biomedical Corp., couples envelope peptides from six diverse HIV-1 strains to purified tuberculin prote
A mysterious factor - now proven distinct from human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) - dramatically reduces Kaposi s sarcoma (KS) lesions and HIV viral loads in some patients. It is hoped that identification and purification or synthesis of the factor will result in an extraordinarily effective AIDS therapy. Robert C. Gal
An improved peptide-cluster HIV vaccine protected against rectal challenge in a mouse model of HIV infection. The protection was the first demonstration that local administration of an artificial peptide-based vaccine elicited long- lasting, HIV specific local mucosal and systemic cytotoxic T- lymphocyte (CTL) response
An experimental HIV DNA vaccine protected nonhuman primates against challenge with a chimeric simian/human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV). Combined with mounting safety data from preliminary human clinical trials, the new findings propel DNA vaccines to the forefront of AIDS vaccine research. The glass ceiling is no lon
A retroviral vector with an already established safety record could be the cat s pyjamas. Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) is a scourge of pet cats, possibly infecting up to one out of five of the domestic animals (Felis catus). FIV is transmitted by bites, but never to humans: an extensive history of human exposure
Rhetoric in the debate over whether to delay efficacy trials until better AIDS vaccines become available has reached a fever pitch. The escalating intensity of the debate became apparent in Jonathan M. Mann s March 15, 1998 presentation to the Presidential Advisory Council on AIDS. Mann, a long-time leader in the world
New alphavirus plasmids deliver genomic packages more efficiently than conventional DNA plasmids. The novel plasmids have successfully delivered DNA encoding HIV or herpes simplex antigens in the mouse model, reported Douglas Jolly of Chiron Technologies, San Diego, California. For considerably less DNA you get more ba
The answer to a single question may hold the key to an AIDS vaccine: why does it take six to 10 months for monkeys inoculated with attenuated live simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) vaccines to develop protective immunity? Comparison of the immune responses of various mammals and humans to lentivirus infection reveals
Antiviral vaccines - including AIDS vaccines - may have only one chance to get it right. Astonishing new findings show that the size of the initial immune response to a virus determines the strength of long-term immunity. These findings have clear implications for developing strategies to improve vaccines, stated Kaja
Is there a role for hydroxyurea as an AIDS therapy? Provocative new findings suggest that the 30-year-old cancer drug may find new life as a component of combination therapy for HIV infection. One patient, treated with hydroxyurea plus didanosine (ddI, Bristol-Myers) plus a protease inhibitor (
A virus isolated from a Cameroonian AIDS patient is the first HIV strain not belonging to either of the two virus groups. The virus - which killed the woman it infected - was closely related to the type of simian immunodeficiency virus endemic among chimpanzees (SIV[cpz]). SIV[cpz] does not cause disease in its natural
A live chicken-pox vector could carry AIDS vaccine antigens directly to the cells where they might do the most good. The varicella zoster virus (VZV) vector is under development at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) by Jeffrey Cohen and colleagues. One major advantage of the vaccine is th
Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) is truly successful only when it reduces plasma HIV RNA levels to less than 20 copies/mL. The results come from a very small study over the course of only one year. They require verification in studies with larger numbers of patients carried out over longer periods of time.
Non-replicating Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEE) replicons can carry vaccine antigens - notably HIV antigens - directly to mucosal lymphoid tissues. The strategy, successful in stimulating long-lasting anti-HIV mucosal immune responses in mice (see Vaccine Weekly, June 23, 1997), is now being tested in the rh
A candidate genital herpes vaccine can be turned into a candidate AIDS vaccine, monkey studies suggest. The live, attenuated herpes simplex virus (HSV) vaccine is under development by Virus Research Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is capable of protecting against genital herpes infections in laboratory animals
Cash-hungry AIDS researchers take note: Uncle Sam wants you. The U.S. is backing up its commitment to find an AIDS vaccine with funding programs for every level of HIV vaccine research. We re the government and we have the purse, so I m going to tell you how to open up the purse, said Steven Bende, Division of AIDS (DA
As an initial therapy, stavudine ( d4T ) works as well as zidovudine ( AZT ) in combination with lamivudine ( 3TC ) - but a protease inhibitor (PI) shou
Many hetero- and homosexual men with AIDS report unsafe sex. The reports were gathered by CDC researchers from men reported to the Los Angeles Department of Health Services with AIDS. More than half of heterosexual men with AIDS (58.8 percent) reported unprotected vaginal or anal sex in the past year. More than a third
The anti-HIV drugs stavudine ( d4T , Bristol Myers) and zidovudine ( AZT , Glaxo) should not be used together, clinical trial results show. The data also show that d4T is far less effective when given immediately o
Exposure to HIV may effectively vaccinate some people, according to a study of people who remain seronegative despite repeated high- risk sex. More than a third of such individuals appear to have developed HIV specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) responses, according to a study by J. Markee and colleagues of the Unive
AIDS vaccines should seek to increase CD8(+) T-cell antiviral activity (CD8 AA), NCI researchers suggest. The basis for CAA remains unclear, but may be the elusive CD8(+) cell antiviral factor (CAF) long sought by researchers. CAF is the name given by Jay Levy and colleagues of the University of California, San Francis
Here come the zinc ejectors. The next wave of anti-HIV drugs attack the HIV p7 nucleocapsid (NC) protein - and the infrastructure for testing such drugs now is in place. Some of these compounds are extremely non-toxic, said L.E. Henderson of the National Cancer Institute-Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center
Protease inhibitors enormously decrease the risk of death for people with AIDS. Dramatic figures compiled by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show the amazing impact of protease inhibitors on the length of survival for people with HIV infection who have already progressed to AIDS. AIDS pati
Can HIV antigens be presented in a way that works? Monkey studies show that improved presentation of HIV antigens - at sufficient doses and combined with adjuvant - can completely protect against infection with chimeric simian/human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV). The goal is to achieve neutralizing activity against mul
Can one HIV vaccine elicit cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) responses from genetically diverse individuals? Results from a Phase II clinical trial point to a positive answer. The trial investigated the ability of Pasteur Merieux/Connaught s new canarypox-based HIV vaccine - given alone or in various combinations with Chiro
Abbott s HIV drug-development strategy appears focused on starting patients with two HIV protease inhibitors (PIs). The strategy seems obvious given that ritonavir (trade name, Norvir ), Abbott s currently approved PI, would be one of the two drugs. This is because ritonavir enhances blood co
HIV can t get a grip without its zinc fingers - but it could hang on long enough to immunize. HIV s so-called zinc fingers are part of the virus s p7 nucleocapsid (NC) protein. Needed for zinc binding crucial to virus replication, these structures are so important that nearly all retroviruses must have at least one. C
Why do simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs) cause no disease in their natural monkey hosts? The answer - that the animals rapidly mount effective immune responses that control early viral replication - may lead researchers to an effective HIV vaccine. To find out what an effective immune response to SIV looks like, H
A leading AIDS researcher has suggested that therapeutic vaccination to boost the immune systems of people with HIV infection - unsuccessful so far - should be tried together with potent new drug regimens. Can HIV specific T-helper responses be engendered in persons with chronic infection? asked Harvard researcher Bruc
Some people with HIV-2 infections test negative on standard HIV-1 tests. Six HIV-2 positive/HIV-1 negative sera - probably representing just three different people - were found among stored sera originally drawn for HIV tests in 1993 through 1995. The New York City Department of Health (NYCDOH) and the U.S. Centers for
Despite severe toxicities in up to 5 percent of patients, Glaxo s potent new AIDS drug is poised to enter the market. The drug is abacavir, formerly known by the code name 1592U89. It is a nucleoside-based inhibitor of HIV reverse transcriptase (RT), as are the already approved nucleoside RT inhibitors (NRTIs) zidovudi
AIDSWEEKLY Plus; World News . . . February 16 & 23, 1998
Daniel J. DeNoon, Senior Editor
The CDC is moving closer to calling for mandatory name-based reporting of positive HIV tests, according to a statement by the director of the CDC s AIDS surveillance division. It is the CDC s technical opinion that name-based surveillance ... is the system most likely to provide data necessary for tracking the epidemic
AIDSWEEKLY Plus; World News . . . February 16 & 23, 1998
Daniel J. DeNoon, Senior Editor
An as-yet-unknown component of antiviral immunity appears to be the key to an AIDS vaccine, said Nobel laureate David Baltimore, head of the U.S. HIV Vaccine Research Advisory Committee. Baltimore delivered the keynote lecture opening the 5th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, held February 1-5, 1
AIDSWEEKLY Plus; World News . . . February 16 & 23, 1998
Daniel J. DeNoon, Senior Editor
The war on AIDS is closer to the beginning than to the end. That s the message from this year s 5th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, held February 1-5, 1998, in Chicago, Illinois. A weary 3500 researchers trooped back to the trenches after hearing that testable HIV vaccine candidates are nowhere
Solution of a critical HIV structure - conserved in all strains - strengthens a new line of attack on the virus. The critical structure, part of the virus s p7 nucleocapsid (NC) protein, is required for zinc binding to the so-called viral CCHC-type zinc fingers or zinc knuckles. These structures are so important that n
A gene mutation protects children against HIV disease even better than it protects adults, a French study shows. The gene encodes the CCR5 receptor, required for infection with the macrophage-tropic (M-tropic) HIV strains responsible for the vast majority of infections. A 32-nucleotide deletion in the CCCR5 gene (CCR5d
A recessive chemokine gene offers the strongest natural protection yet seen against AIDS. The gene, SDF1-3 UTR-801G-A (SDF1-3 A), encodes for a portion of the chemokine known as stromal-derived factor or SDF-1. It is the principal ligand for CXCR4, the main coreceptor for the T-cell-tropic (T-tropic) HIV-1 strains that
As a last resort in its losing battle against AIDS, India plans to develop its own AIDS vaccine. Efforts to control India s explosive AIDS epidemic have been too little and too late: 11 years after introduction of HIV into the nation, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more
The underuse of vaccines in global health care is the result of short-sighted policies, argue the editors of a major medical journal. On the first page of its first issue for 1998, the editors of Nature Medicine blasted vaccine-development strategies that focus on the perceived needs of industrialized nations. No coun
Not even its creators are quite sure how it works, but preclinical studies show that a monoclonal antibody against anti-HIV antibodies increases anti-HIV immunity. The monoclonal antibody (MAb) is called 1F7. It is derived from the sera of mice immunized with human anti-HIV antibodies (HIVIG). 1F7 was found to bind to
Stunning new findings suggest that a live, attenuated monkey virus could protect humans against HIV infection. The provocative results come from a study of rhesus macaque monkeys immunized with live, attenuated simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV). Nearly five years later, the monkeys were challenged with a chimeric sim
A previously undescribed interaction between two human proteins may repress HIV replication in infected cells. The cellular factors could provide the mechanism by which HIV establishes a reservoir of stable, non-productive infection in resting T cells that hide from potent combination antiretroviral therapy. Elucidatio
HIV Tat protein disruption of accessory-cell (AC) function partially activates T cells. This partial activation is doubly dangerous for T cells: not only does it render them susceptible to HIV infection, but it marks them for elimination by apoptosis. Our studies suggest that dysfunction, hyperactivation, and susceptib
It s not your father s major histocompatibility complex. Once thought to be limited to the presentation of intracellular antigens processed via the so-called classical pathway, MHC class I has now been shown capable of presenting peptides obtained under a variety of circumstances and conditions. We conclude that the dy
A potent new class of anti-HIV drugs - fusion inhibitors - acts by adopting a helical shape and binding to a site on the viral gp41 molecule that is conserved across all HIV-1 types. Future drugs of this class could be created by tying linear peptides into the proper helical shape with chemical tethers, indicate the re
Chronic, high-level activation of a T-cell-receptor-associated enzyme occurs very early in HIV infection. The finding may lead to early diagnosis of HIV infection prior to seroconversion and could help predict progression to AIDS. One of the hallmarks of HIV disease is the chronically activated state of a patient s T c
An HIV protein may be responsible for preventing the very immune response that could control the virus. New evidence adds weight to the hypothesis that the HIV-1 Vpr protein prevents clonal expansion of HIV specific CD4(+) T-helper cells. In this scenario, Vpr would cripple the immune response against HIV-1 and thus fa
Even though they express both CD4 and the CXCR4 co-receptor, some promonocytic cells resist infection with HIV. Primary HIV-1 infection usually involves macrophage-tropic (M- tropic) viral strains. One of the great unsolved puzzles of AIDS pathogenesis is that during disease progression, HIV loses its ability to infect
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