BioQuakes

AP Biology class blog for discussing current research in Biology

Tag: HIV (Page 1 of 2)

Why don’t we have a cure to HIV?

HIV, Human Immunodeficiency Virus, is a severe virus that destroys the body’s immune system, which can later lead to AIDS(acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) if the virus is not treated. Since its discovery in 1981, there have been no proper ways to completely cure this virus, which led many people to wonder the same question: what does HIV do to our body that’s incurable?

HIV-budding-Color

Initially, when the virus enters the body, it uses a particular cellular protein called cyclophilin to bind with our cell receptor; it then receives our cell’s information and changes its shape to fit into the compartment. Once that’s done, HIV does a process that we often hear in biology: Receptor-Mediated Endocytosis. To further explain this, the cell is triggered by a specific ligand that matches the cell’s shape. When it’s inside the cell, HIV uses its own DNA and genes to replicate itself. After, the virus Exocytosis gets out of our cells and moves on to infect other cells in our body.

People might question why HIV is incurable? Other viruses do the same thing when entering our bodies, but they can still be cured. To answer this question, we need to go back inside the cells to see what the virus is doing there. While HIV replicates itself and infects cells, it also integrates with the host’s DNA to create reservoirs. When inactivated, the virus inside the pools are remained “silent.” However, once the current virus inside the body is used, a stimulus is sent to those reservoirs to reactivate the remaining virus and start the infection.

Despite its fatality over the years, with modern-day’s medical technology, a person with HIV can live just as long as those who are HIV-negative if the virus is detected early. With that being said, it is crucial to receive early treatments once you have HIV.

Genetically Modified Babies?

A decade or two ago, the idea of being able to modify embryos was straight out of a science-fiction movie. However, last November, Chinese scientist He Jiankui genetically modified twin girls’ embryos to have resistance to the HIV virus using a process called CRISPR. His actions have sparked a global panic, as many people feel that current regulations are not enough to keep the scientific community’s actions ethical.

To understand this issue, it is important to understand its individual components. CRISPR is a gene-editing tool that was discovered in 2007 and became widely used in 2013. Essentially, a scientist decides what portion of DNA they would like to alter, and transcribes the sequence into RNA. This RNA finds the portion of DNA with the specific code and then the Cas9 enzyme “cuts” the DNA, allowing a new sequence of DNA to take its place.

The image depicts functions of CRISPR Cas9 technology.

Dr. He used CRISPR Cas9 technology to try to block the HIV pathways in twin girls while they were still embryos. As this experiment was recent, the long-term effects of it are unclear. In addition, as these girls were not developed at the time of their gene editing, they did not give consent to have a treatment that could be detrimental to their health. Furthermore, looking at the Centers for Disease Control website, HIV is primarily acquired by the use of unsafe needles to inject drugs and sexual contact. Using clean needles and condoms can greatly decrease one’s risk of getting HIV, and if a HIV-positive person takes suppression medicines, the viral content of HIV in their blood can become undetectable. Dr. He’s actions gave the twin girls undue risk, with little possible benefit.

In the future, this method of gene editing may be used to prevent or treat genetic diseases, but people have little knowledge of the long-term implications of using this technology on embryos. At the moment, the lack of global legislation regarding this gene-editing technology leaves a lot to be wondered about the future of this tool. According to Victor Dzau who works in the United States National Academy of Medicine, “The silver lining is that the world was awakened by the conduct of Dr. He, and we are all working very, very hard with all good intentions to make sure that this doesn’t happen again—not in the fashion that He did it. And that someday, if and when the technology is ready—and I think all of us are very bullish about this technology—that it will be helping humankind in the right way, knowing the risks and knowing the benefits.” After Dr. He’s experiment, many are in favor of halting the use of CRISPR on human embryos for at least five more years, so more research can be done on the subject. However, legislation, which the world has seen little of, holds a stronger weight than mere recommendations. In Russia, Denis Rebrikov is planning to create CRISPR babies, and regulations in the country regarding his specific goals remain unclear. How will CRISPR embryo editing evolve in the coming decades? Will CRISPR gene editing be as common someday as IVF is today?

 

An Exception to Microbiome Functionality

A recent study was developed to understand how HIV corresponds to the microbial communities of the female sex organ. Dr. David Fredericks- a physician and college professor that teaches “Allergy and Infectious Disease” at University of Washington, led a study on the relationship between the diversity of bacteria in the vagina and how it may lead to HIV. The research population specifically focused in on sub-Saharan African women, who make up 56% of the continent’s infected population.

HIV-infected T cell

Scientists have come to discover that the greater the diversity of a microbiome, the more equipped that region of the body is for combating infections. Although- this concept is strictly relative to the mouth, intestines, and nasal passageway because a variety of bacteria inhabiting a vaginal microbiome can be very detrimental to a woman’s health. One of the leading risks from having a diverse vaginal microbiome community is the “human immunodeficiency virus”.  This virus can be transmitted through sexual contact, childbirth, nursing, or the usage of unsanitary needles. One’s immune system is weakened after contracting HIV because CD4 cells are damaged, which makes it harder for the body to fight off illness. Dr. Fredericks has revealed that the presence of a microbe called Parvimonas Type 1 is usually not a dangerous bacteria, yet the microbe is linked to the virus when there is a higher concentration of it in the vaginal microbiome.

Dr. Fredericks accomplished making this new find by using a strategy called the “dose-dependent effect” to measure the amount of “bugs” in a microbiome community in correlation to the risk of contracting HIV. In doing so, the scientists took cultures from 87 women who were infected with HIV and 262 cultures from women who tested negative for HIV to compare the bacterias found in both microbiomes. During the second half of the study, biologists used screening through a method called “PCR“and identified 20 types of bacteria that could potentially be linked to the virus. The bacterias involved in generating the virus in the female reproductive system were narrowed down to seven specific strains of rogue bacteria. Since the discovery, the biggest question revolving around HIV is determining how to permanently reduce the concentration of these illness-inducing bacterias.

CRISPR/Cas9: Is it really the cure?

There are many benefits to the CRISPR/Cas9 defense system. But, do the pros outweigh the cons?

CRISPR is a molecule that can be programmed to target a specific sequence in a genome. It guides an enzyme, such as Cas9, to chop the code like scissors. There have been many studies and tests done using the defense. The most important advantages of CRISPR/Cas9 over other genome editing systems are its simplicity and efficiency. Since it can be applied directly in the embryo, CRISPR/Cas9 reduces the time required to change certain genes compared to other systems.

However, many attempts to use this mechanism have failed. Using the mechanism is not as easy as it sounds. A Cas9 repair is not always precise. On ZMEScience, one HIV patient tried the process. But, the HIV cells were only made stronger. Researchers equipped T-cells to hurt the virus with the enzyme Cas9. T cells are a type of lymphocyte that play a central role in cell-mediated immunity. T cells equipped with Cas9 were seen to successfully hurt the HIV genome, and make it unable to properly reproduce. This project led by Chen Liang from McGill University in Montreal, Canada seemed to work fine. But, the team noticed that two weeks later T cells were producing copies of virus particles that had escaped the CRISPR attack. The area around Cas9 only developed more mutations, aka it made the HIV stronger. It is also impossible to direct the Cas9 exactly where one wants it to go. So in essence, it is a risky gamble.

Although there are hopes for this technique to be more refined and successful in the future, for now, its uses are limited.

For more information click here.

A Pill That Lasts for a Week!

A Pill That Lasts for a Week!

HIV budding from a Lymphocyte
http://https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV/AIDS#/media/File:HIV-budding-Color.jpg

 

Cutting edge research from MIT, Brigham and Women’s Hospital has discovered a new way to deliver HIV medicine. They designed a new type of capsule that can deliver a certain dosage of medicine for over a week. This discovery makes it easier for patients to stay consistent with treatment and is beneficial to the patient because less frequent doses improves adherence.

How Does it Work?

The idea stemmed off of another older study using similar capsules to gradually release ivermectin, the malaria drug. This type of capsule could stay in the stomach for as long as two weeks! The new version the researchers designed is a star structure with a specific backbone that has six arms. Different drug-loaded polymers can fill each of the six arms. “In a way, it’s like putting a pillbox in a capsule. Now you have chambers for every day of the week on a single capsule,” Traverso says. These capsules were tested on pigs, and fortunately worked perfectly. The capsules were able to release three different HIV medications over a period of one week and then disintegrated and passed through their digestive tract.

Why is it Important?

The significant drop in mortality rate of HIV since the 1990’s shouldn’t stop researcher from striving to end the epidemic. In 2005 there were 1.2 million HIV-related deaths and 2.1 million new HIV infections. Antiretroviral drugs have been tested in multiple trials to see if they can prevent HIV infection in healthy populations. Although the success in theses trials is mixed, a constant obstacle in this treatment is having people stay consistent with taking the pills.

The Future?

Researchers have also attempted to predict the efficiency and benefits of a weekly drug. They determined that switching from a daily dose to a weekly dose could potentially improve the efficiency by 20%! The prediction also showed that over the next 20 years, 200,000 to 800,000 new infections could be prevented in South Africa! Could this new drug capsule help solve this problem and potentially other dosage problems with other diseases? Could it be the start to new universal dosage methods? This article sparked my interest because the HIV epidemic is something discussed a lot in the 21st century, however there haven’t been many groundbreaking discoveries. Coming across this article gave me hope for the future of medicine and curing this epidemic!

HIV Adapts to CRISPR-Cas9 Treatment

There has been an abundance of research using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing to search for a cure for HIV. The HIV virus enters immune cells and uses the host cell’s method of replication to replicate the viral genome. With CRISPR/Cas9, specific mutations can be introduced in order to make it more challenging for the HIV virus to enter Helper T-Cells. Guided by specific strands of RNA, the Cas9 enzyme can cut a particular piece of the viral genome out, rendering it useless.

When a team of researchers at McGill University attempted to use the CRISPR method to disable the HIV viral genome, they found a major roadblock. Two weeks after the CRISPR/Cas9 treatment, the host cells appeared to be creating copies of the virus. This may be attributed to an error in the enzymes that copy the viral DNA, causing a change in the genome, and a mutation that allows it to evade the CRISPR treatment. However, the McGill researchers believe that this mutation was a result of the CRISPR treatment itself.

After DNA is cut by the Cas9 enzyme, the host cell usually attempts to repair the damage. Occasionally, this results in the addition or deletion of a few nitrogenous bases. While these changes usually result in the inactivation of the cut gene, sometimes they don’t. The active cut DNA is no longer recognized by the machinery used to prevent HIV infection of the cell, and the mutated viral genome is resistant to the usual methods of disablement.

More researchers at the University of Amsterdam had similar results in their research. While it is not that surprising that HIV can overcome the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing at some point, the leader of the research (Atze Das) said “What is surprising is the speed- how fast it goes”.

If CRISPR was used at the same time as HIV-attacking drugs (inhibitors of protease, reverse transcriptase, and integrase), perhaps the mutations would be less  detrimental. This roadblock does not mean that a CRISPR cure for HIV is impossible, but it does make it far more challenging to overcome.

HIV Resistance to CRISPR/Cas9

A recent study, described in the Science Daily, shows that researches who used the CRISPR/Cas9 to mutate HIV-1 within cellular DNA found that the mutation led to unexpected resistance.

When HIV enters a cell, its RNA genome is converted into DNA and becomes intertwined with the cellular DNA. So the goal for the CRISPR/Cas9 is to target a DNA sequence and cleave viral DNA. The problem is HIV is too good at surviving and thriving despite new mutations, making it more difficult for the CRISPR/CAS9 to target.

PDB_1wj9_EBI

Photo Source

Chen Liang, Senior Investigator at the Lady Davis Institute at the Jewish General Hospital, noted that when they sequenced the viral RNA of escaped HIV, they were surprised to see that majority of the mutations the virus had, instead of resulting from the errors of viral reverse transcriptase, were rather introduced by the cellular non-homologous end joining machinery when repairing the broken DNA.

The mutations to the sequences caused by the HIV were unrecognizable to the Cas9. Thus the resistant viruses just continued to replicate.

This study serves as a cautionary tale for scientists hoping to apply CRISPR/Cas9 as an antiviral. Liang does not believe these efforts are useless, however, as he is hopeful about strategies that could overcome this roadblock. One such strategy would be to target multiple sites with CRISPR/Cas9 or use other enzymes besides Cas9. After the solution is identified, the next step will be figuring out ways to deliver the treatment to patients. Liang is confident that CRISPR/Cas9 will open doors for finding a cure for HIV-1 and many other viruses.

More Info:

http://www.genengnews.com/gen-news-highlights/hitting-hiv-with-crispr-cas9-can-arouse-resistance/81252590/

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/148378/20160409/crispr-cas9-gene-editing-is-not-good-enough-to-beat-hiv-whats-next-in-humanitys-fight-against-the-deadly-disease.htm

 

 

How CRISPR/Cas9 could one day prevent AIDS

CRISPR/Cas9 is a new gene editing tool that can target and modify DNA with great accuracy.  This new tool has many scientific uses, including treatment of many diseases.  Recently, several breakthroughs have been made in treating HIV with CRISPR Cas9.  However, a number of issues with the tool have come up at the same time.

To understand how CRISPR eliminates HIV, one must know how HIV replicates. HIV replicates by taking over a host cell and injecting its RNA into the cell.  This RNA becomes DNA and joins together with parts of the host cell’s DNA.  After entering the cells, the virus can lay dormant for several years, but will eventually start replicating and taking over other cells.  The standard form of treatment for HIV is an antiretroviral.  While antiretrovirals can be very effective at limiting the spread of the disease, it cannot fully remove it or stop it forever.

HIV virus

image source: http://bit.ly/1S4bcWY

The CRISPR Cas9 could potentially be used to inhibit the spread of HIV by editing the virus out of a cell’s DNA.  Researchers at The University of Massachusetts Medical School have been developing a technology to perform this impressive task.  While there have been several successful trials in preventing HIV from spreading, several trials have lead to increased resistance for the HIV.

“When we sequence the viral RNA of escaped HIV, the surprise is that the majority of the mutations that the virus has are nicely aligned at the site where Cas9 cleaves the DNA, which immediately indicates that these mutations, instead of resulting from the errors of viral reverse transcriptase, are rather introduced by the cellular non-homologous end joining machinery when repairing the broken DNA,” says Chen Liang, a senior investigator at the Lady Davis Institute at the Jewish General Hospital and the Associate Professor of Medicine at the McGill University AIDS Centre.

These mutations alter the strand of DNA, preventing the CRISPR Cas9 from recognizing it.  If the CRISPR Cas9 cannot recognize the virus, it cant remove the viral DNA, allowing the virus to create more copies of itself.  Despite these limitations, researchers like Liang are confident that they can succeed.

article: http://esciencenews.com/articles/2016/04/08/hiv.can.develop.resistance.crisprcas9

A Cure to HIV is Near, But Not Here Yet

The study of genetics, specifically gene editing, has taken monumental leaps over the past few years. One of the biggest achievements of late is the discovery and further research into CRISPR/Cas9. Being able to use CRISPR/Cas9 to edit the genome sequences of living cells far has been the efficient tool geneticists have dreamed of. However, a recent study proved that CRISPR/Cas9 is not yet able to work as the perfect antiviral mechanism.

Image courtesy of AJC ajcann.wordpress.com, https://flic.kr/p/c9ktfQ

Image courtesy of AJC ajcann.wordpress.com, https://flic.kr/p/c9ktfQ

Scientists from McGill University, the University of Montreal, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College did a study where CRISPR/Cas9 was inserted to the replicative process of the HIV invested cell. After HIV enters a cell it’s RNA is converted to DNA which attaches to a cell’s pre-existing strand of DNA. This is when CRISPR/Cas9 is used, it breaks up these two DNA strands. The study found that many of the targeted viruses were killed, however the others viruses developed mutations on even just one nucleotide that made them more resistant and impossible for Cas9 to identify. In conclusion, scientists realize they may need to target more than one region of the DNA at once to effectively kill viruses like HIV.

This topic is very interesting to me because it reflects how we are on the cusp of some incredible biological achievements. I am particularly interested in this study because the effect of HIV/AIDs has devastated not only our country, but also the world, and this study seems like an important step in finding the cure that could save millions of lives. CRISPR/Cas9 seems to offer amazing possibilities, and this is one specific area that grabbed my attention. Do you think a solution to currently incurable diseases is near? Why/Why not? Let me know in the comments below.

Sources:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160407132307.htm

 

Evolution: 1, Humans: 0 – HIV Virus has evolved to evade latest gene-editing treatments.

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is notorious for its rapid evolution and elusiveness to our treatments.  Our latest attempt to beat it has been foiled, yet again. As explained in this article, researchers have attempted to eliminate the virus through a genome editing technique called CRISPR-Cas9.  This technique allows scientists to target a specific genetic sequence in a cell to cut, using the Cas9 enzyme and a guiding sequence, and change the function of the gene by inserting corrected/modified sequences.

HIV budding from a Lymphocyte http://https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV/AIDS#/media/File:HIV-budding-Color.jpg

HIV budding from a Lymphocyte
[Picture Source Link]

This highly versatile technique was recently applied to HIV, in an attempt to disable it and prevent further infection from it.  The technique would theoretically delete HIV genetic sequences in an infected cell and prevent further virus production; however, a recent study  shows that the virus evolves rapidly to avoid this treatment.  The fault lies in the fact that the gene-editing technique targets a specific locus on the DNA to modify.  The treatment was successful in destroying HIV genes in that area of the DNA, but the cell’s repair mechanisms allowed the removed HIV genes to be repaired with new sequences.  This means that the new HIV genes will not be targeted by the CRISPR mechanism, because it contains a different marker, and the virus will live long enough to reproduce.  This rapid microevolution demonstrates the power of natural selection: a predator destroys the majority of the population, but those that are adapted to survive the conditions will live long enough to reproduce and pass on its traits! HIV has eluded us once again, but we now know that the gene-editing CRISPR-Cas9 system will work, provided that we don’t miss any HIV loci…

The research looks promising, but will this be our golden ticket?

 

Original Article: “CRISPR/Cas9 Gene Editing Is Not Good Enough To Beat HIV: What’s Next In Humanity’s Fight Against The Deadly Disease” (Tech Times)

Original Study & Further Reading: “CRISPR/Cas9-Derived Mutations Both Inhibit HIV-1 Replication and Accelerate Viral Escape” (Cell Reports Journal)

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

 

HIV > CRISPR-Cas 9

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:HIV#/media/File:HIV-infected_H9_T_Cell_(6813314147).jpg

HIV Infecting a Cell

CRISPR-Cas 9 is an extremely advanced gene editing tool. This tool has efficiently created ways to make precise and targeted changes to the genome of living cells. However, in a study in the journal Cell Reports, scientists from the McGill University AIDS Center in Canada discovered drawbacks in using CRISPR to treat HIV. Instead of simply removing the virus from affected cells, the process of using CRISPR can also strengthen the infection by causing it to replicate at a much faster rate.

HIV has always been a popular disease to conduct research on. Scientists are constantly attempting to come up with ways to kill HIV. Several cures to HIV have been developed such as various as antiretroviral drugs, however, these medicines stop being effective after the patient has ceased to take them. As scientists have started to utilize gene editing tools to remove HIV they have been noticing the huge drawback. They realize that while the gene alteration allows the virus to be killed off in some cases, the resulting scar tissue can lead to the infection becoming stronger! Kamel Khalili, a scientist at Temple University, pointed out that the key to eliminating HIV could lie in attacking the virus at different sites using CRISPR.

Link to Original Study

Link to Original Article 

Link to Original Photo

Can Cats Help Fight AIDS?

Cat

Cats can in fact, unfortunately, get AIDS as well.  Their version of the HIV virus, FIV, is quite similar to the HIV virus. FIV and HIV are the same shape and have the same contents. This new discovery in cats may lead to new discoveries with anti-HIV drugs.

In an article titled “Cats lend a helping paw in search for anti-HIV drugs”, the American Technion Society explains how studying FIV can help scientists discover anti-HIV drugs. FIV and HIV use a protein, integrase, which puts the virus’ DNA into an infected cell’s DNA. Scientists and Professors can now study the Feline FIV virus and its interactions with integrase within cats to figure out important reasons how this deadly protein works. Through studying FIV and integrase, an amino acid change was found that tells us how integrase builds in its primary stages. Now those scientists know about this early assembly process, and can further learn how to terminate this process all together. About 40-45% of the proteins on the amino acid level are the same between FIV and HIV, allowing them to use this discovery on the human counterpart.

The feline virus, FIV, is a lot easier to study and researchers have already found a simpler form (than its HIV counterpart). By studying their 3-D model, they found that integrase’s simple and complex backbones are almost identical. These near identical backbones allow a much easier research path in FIV that will assist similarly with HIV integrase research.

HIV_attachment

 

Image of HIV Virus working

 

FIV and HIV are almost the same in how they work, but the more simple research on the feline version of the virus and integrase will greatly help the fight against AIDS. Who would’ve thought that cats could help fight such a deadly virus?!

 

More Information:

https://www.scripps.edu/newsandviews/e_20030414/elder.html

 

Pics:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cat_Cute.JPG

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CCR5_receptor_antagonist#mediaviewer/File:HIV_attachment.gif

Possible HIV Remedy?

There wide array of deadly diseases that affect millions of people worldwide. Do you ever wonder if there could be a cure for just one? A team of researchers led by Dr. Caroline Goujon and Professor Mike Malim at the Department of Infectious Diseases in King’s College London has recognized a new gene that may have the ability to prevent HIV (Human immunodeficiency virus), a virus that slowly replicates and eventually causes AIDS. AIDS is a human condition that causes continuous failure of the immune system that could potentially lead to life-threatening infections and cancers. The research team has concluded that the human MX2 gene could play a major role in the path to finding an official cure for the deadly virus.

The MX2 gene is the Interferon-induced GTP-binding protein MX2. The protein encoded in this gene has nuclear and cytoplasmic forms. Researches have concluded that this protein could “lead to the development of new, less toxic treatments where the body’s own natural defense system is mobilized against the virus.” The scientists began the experiment by presenting the virus to human cells where the HIV virus had an encounter with two different cell lines and observing effects. After an intense study of the experiment, they detected in one cell line the MX2 gene was “switched on” and in the other cell line the gene was “silenced”. In the cell where the MX2 was switched off the virus duplicated, but in the cells were the gene was switched on no new viruses were produced or continued. In this way, the gene tested positive for its ability to fight off the virus.

The recent finding by the researchers brings way for other researches and scientist to continue to advance their knowledge about the virus. The goal would be to allow the 34 million people worldwide who are infected with HIV to lead a life free of the virus.hiv

 

Kid Cured from HIV

For the first time an infant was cured from HIV virus as in, the child does not have “detectable levels of virus” and there are “no signs of disease without the antiretroviral therapy.” The child’s mother with diagnosed with HIV gave birth to her child that also had HIV which was confirmed when she was born. Doctors immedietly began a regiment of a “liquid antiretroviral treatment consisting of a combination of three anti-HIV drugs: zidovudine, lamivudine, and nevirapine.” This treatment was continued for 18 months. It is also noted that by day 29 the amount of infant’s viral load had fallen to less than 50 copies of HIV per milliliter of blood (copies/mL).

HIV is spread via blood, semen and vaginal fluids and breastmilk making children with HIV infected mothers extremely susceptible to the virus. HIV is a retrovirus meaning the virus does transcription in reverse, transcribing DNA from RNA. During infection, the HIV virus attaches to a compatible receptor on the host cell’s surface. The virus  and injects its RNA and proteins into the host cell. The enzymes reverse transcriptase, integrase and protease are used to transcribe the virus from RNA to DNA and to integrate it into the host cell’s genome. The host cell then becomes a production house for the HIV virus producing the needed enzymes and genetic material to produce many more viruses. These newly formed viruses leave the cells in vesicles via exocytosis damaging the cell. This persistent damage to CD4 lymphocytes and the immune system eventually cases AIDS or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. This diagnosis is determined through the person’s blood and their CD4 count.

18 months later the treatment was discontinued for unclear reasons.” After, blood samples were taken which revealed that there were undetectable HIV levels in the child’s blood. The child continues to thrive with no detectable levels of HIV in the the body without antiretroviral therapy. What doctors and scientists have taken from this case is that if antiretroviral therapy is started on “infants who are infected with HIV through their mothers via pregnancy or delivery” it may “prevent HIV from establishing a reservoir or a hiding place.” (http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2013/03/04/toddler_functionally_cured_of_hiv_infection_nihsupported_investigators_report.html)

Can HIV finally be cured?

While the answer to this question is very broad, there is hope that the number of people living with HIV throughout the world will significantly decrease in the near future due to a toddler who was cured of the virus.

About 1000 infants are born with HIV every day, that’s about 330,000 children each year. While most of the infections are in the developing world, there is still a vast number of people living with HIV in first world countries. An example is the Mississippi mother who had no idea she had HIV until a few days before she gave birth to her baby. Once the doctors learned she was infected with the virus, they took precautionary measures to ensure they could prevent the transfer of HIV during birth, a very common way of HIV transmission along with breast feeding. Once the baby was born Dr. Hannah Gay administer three drugs to the baby within thirty hours of birth. Typically, babies born from mothers with HIV are given two drugs as a prophylactic measure, however Dr. Gay said “her standard is to use a three drug regimen to treat an infection. She did this on the infant without waiting for HIV test results” (CNN.com)

Gay believes that the timing of the drug treatment was extremely crucial, and is key to effectively treating HIV in children/newborns. Currently, researchers are trying to see if this “cure” is an anomaly for a short period of time, or if the cure is permanent. In addition, physicians and scientists are optimistic, hoping that this cure will prevent many children from living with HIV throughout the world. Although the antiviral medications are very costly, doctors believe that it is not a stretch to offer these medications in third world countries and are hoping to soon make these medications available to many clinics throughout the world, assuming the “cure” was a success.

Read more at: http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/05/health/hiv-cure-global-hope/index.html?hpt=he_t3

Cute Baby
Photo By: Christopher Lance
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ninedragons/4822437519/

 

Protein Might Help Fight Deadly Diseases

The enzyme “Cholesterol-25-Hydroxylase,” or CH25H, might help fight against human viruses such as Rift Valley Fever, Niphah and HIV. CH25H converts cholesterol to an oxysterol called 25HC, which can permeate a cell’s wall to prevent a virus from getting in. The CH25H enzyme is activated by interferon, an anti-viral cell signaling protein produced in the body.  Researchers have known that interferon has been part of the body’s defense mechanism against viruses, though it does not have any antiviral properties itself.

This discovery is revolutionary because other antiviral genes have not been able to be used for treatment of viruses in humans. According to Yang Lui, a student at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, most antiviral genes are difficult to use in therapy because the genes are difficult for cells to express. However, CH25H is different because it is naturally synthesized.

HIV Replication within a cell

The discovery of CH25H is relevant to the efforts to develop broad antivirals against an increase of emerging pathogens. In a collaboration with Dr. Lee, another UCLA professor, it was discovered that the 25HC produced from CH25H can inhibit HIV growth in vivo. The researchers initially found that 25HC inhibited HIV growth in cultures. When implanted mice with human tissues, the 25HC reduced the HIV in within 7 days and reversed T-Cell depletion caused by the HIV. It was also discovered that 25HC inhibited the growth of other diseases such as Rift Valley Fever Virus and Ebola.

There are still some weaknesses with the study. It’s difficult to deliver 25HC in the large doses needed to fight viruses. Researchers also need to compare 25HC to other antiviral HIV treatments.

Bees and HIV

 

By PaulSteinJC. Photo from Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/kapkap/2632994523/

 

30 million people have died due to AIDS.

However, a cure is yet to be found.

HIV is a retrovirus that manages to evade detection from the immune system because the virus hides in latency, incorporated into your DNA.

Instead, doctors give patients a “drug cocktail” that slows the replication and action of HIV enzymes. However, this treatment does not stop the initial infection.

A recent study had found that nanoparticles carrying a toxin found in bee venom can destroy HIV.

Bee venom contains melittin, which can “poke holes in the protective envelope that surrounds HIV,” thereby destroying the virus.

The researchers believe that this discovery can help them develop a vaginal gel that may prevent the spread of HIV.

A researcher Joshua Hood hopes “that in places where HIV is running rampant, people could use this gel as a preventive measure to stop the initial infection.”

Hood also thinks that these nanoparticles could be used to treat existing HIV infections. The nanoparticles could be injected into the blood, clearing HIV from the blood stream.

This is truly a wonderful discovery. Hopefully, this is the first step towards ending the AIDS epidemic.

To read more about HIV visit these sites:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4831508/Bee-stings-could-prevent-the-spread-of-HIV-doctors-claim.html

http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-topics/stds-hiv-safer-sex/hiv-aids-4264.htm

 

Understanding HIV, one protein at a time

By NIAID/NIH (NIAID Flickr’s photostream) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

In a recent study, scientists at Johns Hopkins University have narrowed down a list of 25 human proteins that HIV viruses target the most. The scientists started by studying the HIV-1virus, which is the most infectious and most common type of HIV. They knew that the virus clings to proteins and membrane as it emerges from an infected human cell in order to disguise itself from the human immune system, but inquired as to whether it was a random process or not. They then searched for types of proteins that they targeted the most, using the HIV-1.

They virus tends to target the CD4+ T cells and microphages which both migrate to sites of inflammation. This makes sense because HIV targets the immune system and  the virus can wait to attack while disguised by these cells. They originally identified 279 proteins that this virus in particular targeted when isolating the HIV-1 with CD4+ T cells, but when they crossed the data from two different cell types, they found that only 25 proteins were shared by viruses from both cell types!

This is an extremely interesting and groundbreaking discovery because of the possibilities behind this discovery. If we can figure out the types of proteins these HIV viruses are hiding behind, we could target and destroy them which could possibly lead to the abolition of HIV.

A True Medical Miracle!

Baby

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Photo By: Espen Faugstad

What would you do if your newborn baby had been HIV positive? Well this sad truth was given to more then 330,000 parents last year alone. Up until now there had never been a way of curing infants with this deadly disease, but due to a new radical treatment there may be hope for these babies. Thanks to Dr. Deborah Persaud this is now a possibility. She had a patient whose baby had been born with HIV. After the child had only been alive for about 30 hours her team started an aggressive treatment with antiretroviral drugs. After months of nonstop treatment the baby was no longer HIV positive. Dr. Deborah said,”It’s proof of principle that we can cure H.I.V. infection if we can replicate this case.” Although this is a breakthrough case for HIV doctors, there are still some people who are suspicious of the results. Dr. Daniel R. Kuritzkes, chief of infectious diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, was quoted as saying, “The one uncertainty is really definitive evidence that the child was indeed infected.” One hypothesis of way the treatment worked for the child is that the drugs killed off the virus before it could establish a hidden reservoir in the baby’s body. One reason older people cannot be cured now is that the virus hides in a dormant state, out of reach of existing drugs. When drug therapy is stopped, the virus can emerge from hiding. Although HIV is far from being cured altogether, this new information and research is a step in the right direction of a world where no one has to die of HIV or AIDS.

For more information on this subject please visit: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/04/health/for-first-time-baby-cured-of-hiv-doctors-say.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&ref=science

 

Can we fight off AIDS?

AIDS is a tragic epidemic world wide. More than 34 million people are affected by AIDS and in 2011 alone, 1.7 million people died from AIDS. The people affected by AIDS are largely from regions in Africa and Asia, but more than one million people in the US are living with AIDS.

Obviously such a prevalent disease attracts scientists looking to help find a cure from all over the world. There have been significant advances in medications that can prevent symptoms and prolong life, but there is yet to be a cure.

A new discovery in treatment for AIDS gives hope for a long term or even permanent control over the HIV. The treatment includes a vaccine with a disabled version of the virus. The heat-inactivated version of HIV “awakens immune protection in some patients”. This means certain patients didn’t have to take their medication for weeks or even months. Thought the affects of the vaccination are temporary, this method of treatment shows promise.

Even if scientists don’t come up with a more permanent treatment for HIV in the near future, the temporary suppressing of the virus results in “knocking the virus down to extremely low levels would mean many patients wouldn’t need drugs, wouldn’t show disease symptoms and wouldn’t be likely to transmit HIV to others.” This is a significant accomplishment. It could lower the amount of people infected with AIDS world wide by stopping the transmission between people and would also improve the quality of life for AIDS infected people.

 

Sources:

main article:

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/347357/description/Inactivated_virus_shows_promise_against_HIV_

extra articles:

http://www.amfar.org/about_hiv_and_aids/facts_and_stats/statistics__worldwide/

http://aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/hiv-aids-101/statistics/

photo:

Earth taken by Galileo after completing its first Earth Gravity Assist

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