Biology News Net - AIDS & HIV

Saliva HIV test passes the grade

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:58:41 -0500

A saliva test used to diagnose the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), is comparable in accuracy to the traditional blood test, according to a new study led by the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) and McGill University. The meta-analysis, which compared studies worldwide, showed that the saliva HIV test, OraQuick HIV1/2, had the same accuracy as the blood test for high-risk populations. The test sensitivity was slightly reduced for low risk populations. The study, published in this week's issue of The Lancet Infectious Diseases, has major implications for countries that wish to adopt self-testing strategies for HIV.

Gladstone scientists identify human proteins that may fuel HIV/AIDS transmission

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:23:59 -0500

__IMAGE_2 Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have discovered new protein fragments in semen that enhance the ability of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, to infect new cells -- a discovery that one day could help curb the global spread of this deadly pathogen.

Blood cell test for HIV treatment monitoring is cheaper but just as effective

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:47:54 -0500

A cheaper laboratory test that helps guide anti-retroviral drug treatment for people with HIV/AIDS may be just as effective as a more sophisticated test, a group of international researchers has found – a discovery that could be particularly important in rural Africa.

Scientists determine how antibody recognizes key sugars on HIV surface

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 18:12:11 -0500

WHAT: HIV is coated in sugars that usually hide the virus from the immune system. Newly published research reveals how one broadly neutralizing HIV antibody actually uses part of the sugary cloak to help bind to the virus. The antibody binding site, called the V1/V2 region, represents a suitable HIV vaccine target, according to the scientists who conducted the study. In addition, their research reveals the detailed structure of the V1/V2 region, the last part of the virus surface to be visualized at the atomic level.

A Trojan horse in the fight against HIV/AIDS

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 16:18:17 -0500

The Centre de recherche du Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CRCHUM) announced today that one of its researchers will receive funding of 100,000 US $ through Grand Challenges Explorations, an initiative created by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that enables researchers worldwide to test unorthodox ideas that address persistent health and development challenges. Dr. Andrés Finzi will pursue an innovative global health research project, titled "Reverse Fusion: a new approach to eradicate HIV/AIDS" to deliver toxic genes to HIV-infected cells and eliminate them.

Early HIV treatment dramatically increases survival in patients co-infected with tuberculosis

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 19:12:47 -0500

Timing is everything when treating patients with both HIV and tuberculosis. Starting HIV therapy in such patients within two weeks of TB treatment, rather than two months as is the current practice, increases survival by 33 percent, according to a large-scale clinical trial in Cambodia led by researchers at Children's Hospital Boston and the Immune Disease Institute (IDI).

New HIV vaccine approach targets desirable immune cells

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 02:20:28 -0500

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School have demonstrated an approach to HIV vaccine design that uses an altered form of HIV's outer coating or envelope protein.

New TB vaccine enters proof-of-concept trial in people living with HIV

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 16:35:46 -0500

Aeras and the Oxford-Emergent Tuberculosis Consortium (OETC) announce today the start of a Phase IIb proof-of-concept efficacy trial of a new investigational tuberculosis (TB) vaccine that involves people living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The trial will be conducted at research sites in Senegal and South Africa with primary funding support from the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP).

Natural killer cells participate in immune response against HIV

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 10:53:50 -0500

A new study shows for the first time that natural killer (NK) cells, which are part of the body's first-line defence against infection, can contribute to the immune response against HIV. In an article in the August 4 issue of Nature, a research team based at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard reports that the HIV strains infecting individuals with particular receptor molecules on their NK cells had variant forms of key viral proteins, implying that the virus had mutated to avoid NK cell activity.

Emerging HIV epidemics in men who have sex with men in the Middle East and North Africa

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 21:46:06 -0500

HIV epidemics are emerging among men who have sex with men (a term that encompasses gay, non-gay identified homosexual men, transgendered, and bisexual men) in several countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Importantly, the high level of risky sexual behavior practiced by many men who have sex with men in these countries indicates that they could become the pivotal risk group for HIV sexual transmission in this region.