Biology News Net - AIDS & HIV

Viral complementation allows HIV-1 replication without integration, NYU Dental research shows

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:40:45 -0500

Weak HIV viruses piggyback onto stronger ones, raising the possibility that the human body may harbor many more HIV viruses capable of replicating and contributing to the development of AIDS than previously thought, a New York University College of Dentistry AIDS research team has found.

Infant formula blocks HIV transmission via breastfeeding

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:44:11 -0500

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a global epidemic threatening the lives of millions of people. Because there is no known cure, prevention of the transmission of the virus that causes AIDS, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), is critical for controlling the disease. The transmitting routes of HIV include breastfeeding, which passes the virus from mothers to infants. This is a major problem in many areas of Africa, where HIV-positive mothers have no alternative to breastfeeding. So far, no practical and effective methods are available to prevent HIV transmission by this route.

Antiretroviral therapy as HIV prevention strategy

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:56:27 -0500

The widespread use of highly active antiretroviral therapy may reduce the incidence of HIV in individuals and populations but has been overlooked by public health as a prevention strategy, write Dr. Julio Montaner and colleagues in CMAJ.

Trial is first to see if HIV prevention gels are safe for pregnant women, their babies

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:18:01 -0500

Clinical trials hoping to identify a vaginal microbicide that is both safe and effective against HIV have all but skirted questions befitting the evaluation of an approach intended primarily for sexually active women of childbearing age: What if a woman becomes pregnant while using a product? Can exposure to a product, especially early in pregnancy, pose a risk to the developing fetus? Does pregnancy affect how a particular microbicide is supposed to work?

Protein that provides innate defense against HIV could lead to new treatments

Mon, 26 May 2008 01:00:31 -0500

By identifying a protein that restricts the release of HIV-1 virus from human cells, scientists believe they may be closer to identifying new approaches to treatment. The research is published in the advance online edition of Nature Medicine.

Scientists image a single HIV particle being born

Mon, 26 May 2008 01:00:29 -0500

A mapmaker and a mathematician may seem like an unlikely duo, but together they worked out a way to measure longitude – and kept millions of sailors from getting lost at sea. Now, another unlikely duo, a virologist and a biophysicist at Rockefeller University, is making history of their own. By using a specialized microscope that only illuminates the cell’s surface, they have become the first to see, in real time and in plain view, hundreds of thousands of molecules coming together in a living cell to form a single particle of the virus that has, in less than 25 years, claimed more than 25 million lives: HIV.

Failed HIV drug gets second chance with addition of gold nanoparticles

Fri, 23 May 2008 18:42:17 -0500

Researchers at North Carolina State University have discovered that adding tiny bits of gold to a failed HIV drug rekindle the drug’s ability to stop the virus from invading the body’s immune system.

Study finds unique HIV vaccine formula elicits strong immune responses

Thu, 22 May 2008 19:31:05 -0500

Today, Advanced BioScience Laboratories, Inc. (ABL) and the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) report that their unique HIV vaccine formulation was effective in eliciting strong and balanced immune responses in healthy human volunteers. The findings are published in the journal Vaccine (“Cross-subtype antibody and cellular immune responses induced by a polyvalent DNA prime–protein boost HIV-1 vaccine in healthy human volunteers,” Vaccine online, May 22, 2008) In light of these initial findings, additional assays on volunteers’ samples were done by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, independently confirming the presence of long lasting and high quality T cell responses against HIV antigens. Results from this confirmatory study are currently available online in the Journal of Virology (April 30, 2008).

HIV infection stems from few viruses

Sat, 17 May 2008 15:11:01 -0500

A new study reveals the genetic identity of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the version responsible for sexual transmission, in unprecedented detail.

Dr. Anthony Fauci reflects on 25 years of HIV

Thu, 15 May 2008 22:28:56 -0500

On the 25th anniversary of the first scientific article linking a retrovirus to AIDS, Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, reflects in an essay in Nature on his experience treating and studying HIV/AIDS for the past quarter century. Outlining the peaks and valleys of the scientific community’s journey so far, Dr. Fauci writes, “…we must learn from our mis-steps, build on our successes in treatment and prevention, and renew our commitment to developing the truly transforming tools that will one day put this scourge behind us.”