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| Down Under |
| Australians stumble across HIV therapy |
| 2005-03-01 |
| AUSTRALIAN scientists have stumbled upon a simple way to dramatically stimulate immunity to deadly viruses such as HIV, in what's considered a major discovery in the fight against AIDS. The researchers were initially so taken aback by their chance find, they repeated the study several times before they could convince themselves it worked. Associate Professor Stephen Kent, of the University of Melbourne department of microbiology and immunology, said the researchers had set out to devise a test to judge how well an animal's immune system could fight HIV. They extracted blood from vaccinated laboratory animals, then coated the cells with HIV peptide markers — which tell the immune system a cell is infected by the virus. When they injected the peptide-coated blood back into the animals — to create the illusion the cells were infected by HIV even though they weren't — they found the cells triggered a huge immune response. "When we analysed HIV-specific immunity in the weeks following ... a marked enhancement of virus-specific immunity was induced," Professor Kent said. "So the test we were trying to devise was actually a vaccine in itself which was totally unexpected." The researchers have successfully tested the discovery in both mice and monkeys. They hope to begin human trials in Sydney and Melbourne within two years. The therapy would involve injections of the patient's own blood after it is treated with peptides found on the surface of cells infected by the virus. "What we're looking at ... is a therapy that boosts people's immune systems against the virus," Professor Kent said. "HIV ... is difficult to get rid of completely but if it's kept at bay by some sort of immune therapy it may not officially be cured but if that goes on for the person's life then it won't ever cause them any trouble. Professor Kent said the therapy had even proved effective against drug-resistant forms of the disease. The researchers have named the therapy — Overlapping Peptide Autologous Cells (OPAL) — in line with its Australian origins. Their study — a collaboration with the Australian National University's John Curtin School of Medical Research — has been published in the latest international Journal of Virology. The study has been awarded National Health and Medical Research Council funding of almost $500,000 to refine the technique so that it can be studied in humans. Professor Kent said the therapy had also shown promise as a treatment for other chronic infection such as Hepatitis C. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #6 RJ- I have a friend, Madoc, who writes extensively about this very subject. Getting infected in our day and age is not considered a 'bad' thing anymore. The cocktails you are give involve steroids so you end up with an excellent physique (if you believe Will & Grace this is a high mark in gay society). It is actually a way to mark those who are HIV pos. The fact of the matter is, as TW mentions, risky behaviour will always endager you and this community hates not being risky. |
| Posted by: Jame Retief 2005-03-01 10:13:48 PM |
| #5 But RJ, there's that horridly deceptive 6-month period between being infected and testing positive for HIV, when one shares everything with one's partners... And of course, just because one has a certain version of HIV doesn't mean one can't be infected subsequently with other variations. So it would have to be all safe sex, all the time, for a group that likes risky behaviours. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-03-01 10:07:56 PM |
| #4 I don't understand why the gay community doesn't come up with some way for those who are infected to mark themselves so that other infected people can go keep up their lifestyle without spreading the disease or changing their ways. That 20-30 partner gang binge is less lethal if you know everyone is either clean or infected going in. I don't understand why they don't have some kind HIV test every week. Make it a bonding gay pride thing and make certain they are clean so they could continue their wild ways without spreading the disease. That would make that 20-30 partner binge that much safer as far as HIV was concerned. I don't really understand why they don't change their wild ways but since that seems beyond so many why not at least work the system? |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2005-03-01 6:07:41 PM |
| #3 If this treatment pans out and becomes an accepted procedure, the same shit's gonna happen again. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-03-01 5:04:43 PM |
| #2 If only the gay community would take the bug seriously after the cocktails and vaccines are created. They look at the risky behavior as OK, since AID's not a killer (as much) anymore. Meth-fueled binges with 20-30 partners are gonna get you sick with SOMETHING, idiots |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-03-01 4:36:21 PM |
| #1 Professor Kent said the therapy had even proved effective against drug-resistant forms of the disease. This would make sense because it looks like the mechanism of treatment is outside of what a virus can adapt to. It seems that the treatment might be capable of mutating as fast as the virus does. Fascinating... |
| Posted by: BigEd 2005-03-01 4:29:12 PM |