Possible Breakthrough in Developing HIV Vaccine

Sep 26, 2011 12:06

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Scientists say they have found a way to disarm the AIDS virus in
research that could lead to a vaccine.  Researchers have discovered that
if they eliminate a cholesterol membrane surrounding the virus, HIV
cannot disrupt communication among disease-fighting cells and the immune
system returns to normal.



Scientists have discovered that HIV needs cholesterol, which it picks up from the first immune cells it
infects, to keep the virus' outer membrane fluid.  That allows it to
communicate with - and disrupt - the body's immune system.

The long-term effect of this disrupted communication is to destroy the body’s normal defense against the
AIDS virus, which is responsible for 1.8 million deaths each year.

But researchers say they can prevent HIV from damaging the immune system, if they remove the
cholesterol from the virus’ outer membrane.

David Graham is a molecular biologist at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

“By stealing cholesterol from the envelope of the virus, we can neutralize
the subversion," said Graham. "We’ve broken the code; we can shut down
the type of interference that HIV is having on the immune system.”

The cholesterol used by HIV, Graham notes, is not the same cholesterol that
circulates in blood and causes coronary artery disease.  He says the
AIDS virus incorporates cholesterol into its membrane from plasmacytoid
dendritic cells or pDCs - the first immune cells to recognize the
virus.  The pDC cells normally signal the adaptive part of the immune
system - T cells - to form a more specific, long-lasting response.

But through its newly-acquired cholesterol membrane, Graham says HIV
reprograms the immune system - starting with the first responder cells -
so they become hyperactive.

“These cells are just saying, 'No way.  We’re not shutting off," he said. "We are going to keep
responding.'  And that causes the cells of the adaptive immune system to
start shutting down.”

The T-cells do not respond properly, and the virus can spread.

Graham says this might explain why scientists have so far been unsuccessful in
developing an AIDS vaccine.  Many candidate vaccines attempt to bolster
the T-cells, which have been weakened by what the virus does to the pDC
cells.

Graham, along with his colleagues at several European
universities, found a way to disable HIV’s cholesterol membrane so it
cannot corrupt the first-responder cells, clearing the way for T-cells
to fight the HIV infection, or pathogen, more effectively.

“The immune system now treated it more like a regular pathogen that you would
encounter, and we would have normal immune responses that would result
in protection," said Graham.

So far, research has been conducted only in the laboratory.  But Graham says he hopes studies in animals
and humans will eventually lead to an AIDS vaccine.

The research, funded by Britain’s Wellcome Trust and the U.S. National Institutes of
Health, is described in an article published in the journal Blood.

Source
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/health/-Scientists-Disarm-AIDS-Virus-Attack-on-Immune-System-130313993.html

The idea that it may be possible to vaccinate against the horrific disease could have so much potential for our world.  I really hope we see this disease eradicated in my lifetime.  It's fascinating to think we can remove the virus's "invisibility" cloak and let our immune system take care of the rest!

health/disease

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