Biology News Net - AIDS & HIV

Periodontal pathogens enhance HIV-1 promoter activation in T cells

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:08:10 -0500

Today, during the 39th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Dental Research, convening at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC, lead researcher O.A. Gonzalez (University of Kentucky, Lexington) will present a poster of a study titled "TLR2 and TLR9 Activation by Periodontal Pathogens induce HIV-1 Reactivation." Although oral co-infections (e.g. periodontal disease) are highly prevalent in HIV-1 patients and appear to positively correlate with viral load levels, the potential for oral bacteria to induce HIV-1 reactivation in latently infected cells has received little attention. The researchers involved in this study have proved that periodontal pathogens enhanced HIV-1 promoter activation in T-cells, monocytes/macrophages and dendritic cells; however the mechanisms involved in this response remain undetermined.

25th anniversary of anti-AIDS drugs

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:11:24 -0500

Elsevier, the world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, released a special issue of the journal Antiviral Research (www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01663542), marking the 25th anniversary of antiretroviral drug development. The guest editors, José Esté from Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol, Barcelona, Spain and Tomas Cihlar, from Gilead sciences Inc., CA, USA were able to attract the key players in the field who all contributed a variety of review articles to this special issue, thereby creating a must-read for anybody interested in AIDS treatment.

Gene-based stem cell therapy specifically removes cell receptor that attracts HIV

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:09:46 -0500

UCLA AIDS Institute researchers successfully removed CCR5 — a cell receptor to which HIV-1 binds for infection but which the human body does not need — from human cells. Individuals who naturally lack the CCR5 receptor have been found to be essentially resistant to HIV.

HIV drug resistance lasts about 1 year in women treated with nevirapine to prevent infant infection

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 22:18:25 -0500

A new international study reported in PLoS Medicine confirms that a single dose of nevirapine (sdNVP) can lead to HIV treatment failure in women who receive the drug to prevent transmission of the AIDS virus to their infants. However, the increased risk of failure could only be detected in women who began full HIV treatment within about a year after receiving sdNVP.

HIV researchers solve key puzzle after 20 years of trying

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:41:12 -0500

Researchers have made a breakthrough in HIV research that had eluded scientists for over 20 years, potentially leading to better treatments for HIV, in a study published today in the journal Nature.

Control of herpes symptoms does not reduce HIV transmission, international study found

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:59:31 -0500

Research from a five-year international clinical study shows that acyclovir, a commonly prescribed drug used to suppress symptoms of the herpes virus, does not affect HIV transmission by people with both viruses.

Circumcision associated with significant changes in bacteria

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:40:03 -0500

Circumcision, which substantially lowers HIV risk in men, also dramatically changes the bacterial communities of the penis, according to a study led by scientists at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and Johns Hopkins University and published Jan. 6 in the scientific journal PLoS ONE.

Gladstone scientists identify target that may inhibit HIV infectivity

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:19:07 -0500

Scientists at the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology (GIVI) have discovered a new agent that might inhibit the infectivity of HIV. The agent, surfen, impairs the action of a factor in semen that greatly enhances the viral infection. Surfen might be used to supplement current HIV microbicides to greatly reduce HIV transmission during sexual contact.

Biological catch-22 prevents induction of antibodies that block HIV

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:12:49 -0500

Scientists seeking to understand how to make an AIDS vaccine have found the cause of a major roadblock. It turns out that the immune system can indeed produce cells with the potential to manufacture powerful HIV-blocking antibodies – but at the same time, the immune system works equally hard to make sure these cells are eliminated before they have a chance to mature.

New insight into selective binding properties of infectious HIV

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:12:49 -0500

Free infectious HIV-1 is widely thought to be the major form of the virus in the blood of infected persons. U.S. Military HIV Research Program (MHRP) researchers, however, have demonstrated that essentially all of the infectious virus particles can bind to the surface of red blood cells isolated from each of 30 normal (non-infected) human donors. The results were published today in PLoS ONE, and can be accessed here.