HIV Cure - One Step Closer?

International News, By Joal, 18th July, 2008

Scientists are hopeful that a recent discovery may lead to what has been called the ‘Holy Grail’ of HIV research – a preventative HIV vaccine.

Doctor Sudhir Paul, leader of a study at the University of Texas, will present a paper on the theory and supporting data from his findings at the 17th International AIDS conference in Mexico City next month. He believes they may have found the virus’ “achilles’ heel.”

Indicating the difficulty involved in investigating a virus like HIV, Paul said that “HIV’s cleverness is unmatched. No other virus uses [the same] trick to evade the body’s defences.”

With documented infections first occurring in the 1980s, HIV has taken a huge toll on the gay and lesbian community in only a few decades. The developing world is currently struggling with a rise in HIV infections, largely due to lack of awareness, education and available HIV medication. Last year, the UN and World Health Organisation estimated that there were over 33 million people living with HIV.

The science behind the group’s work is complex, targeting the only ‘constant’ section of the HIV virus, which usually hides itself from the body’s defences.

“Unlike the changeable regions of its envelope, HIV needs at least one region that must remain constant to attach to cells,” says Paul. “If this region changes, HIV cannot infect cells. Equally important, HIV does not want this constant region to provoke the body’s defence system. So, HIV uses the same constant cellular attachment site to silence B lymphocytes – the antibody producing cells. The result is that the body is fooled into making abundant antibodies to the changeable regions of HIV but not to its cellular attachment site.”

The group’s research may be able to target the virus’ only ‘unchanging’ protein using what they term ‘abzymes’. In response to the findings Doctor David C. Montefiori, director of the Laboratory for AIDS Vaccine Research & Development at Duke University Medical Centre said that “the main question now is if this can be applied to developing vaccine and possibly used as a microbicide to prevent sexual transmission.”

“HIV is an international priority because we have no defence against it,” Paul said. “Left unchecked, it will likely evolve into even more virulent forms. We have learned a lot from this research about how to induce the production of the protective abzymes on demand.”

And we’ll all keep our fingers-crossed.

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