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Scientist think they've found HIV weakness
The vulnerable spot is hidden in a protein essential for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, the virus that causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, to attach to host cells, the university said in a release.
An HIV vaccine doesn't exist because HIV is a mutating virus.
The scientists said they are focusing on a stretch of amino acids on HIV's envelope protein gp120.
"Unlike the changeable regions of its envelope, HIV needs at least one region that must remain constant to attach to cells. If this region changes, HIV cannot infect cells," said Sudhir Paul, a pathology professor at the UT Medical School.
Paul's group engineered antibodies with enzymatic activity, called abzymes, that can attack the virus's weakness.
"The abzymes recognize essentially all of the diverse HIV forms found across the world. This solves the problem of HIV changeability," Paul said. "The next step is to confirm our theory in human clinical trials."
The theory was in a recent issue of Autoimmunity Reviews and will be presented during the International AIDS Conference Aug. 3-8 in Mexico City.
Copyright 2008 by United Press International
This news arrived on: 07/16/2008
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Posted Comments:
07-20-2008 02:43
Stacie wrote:
I don't believe so
I believe you can contract Aids in more than one way correct like blood donations. There are people fighting the disease that got it from their wife or husband. (I know a couple personally) Sometimes there are innocent people. I believe there will be something else that comes along worse than AIDS after they get a cure for this. Think about it. Where do these viruses come from anyway? New virus shows up- Money is raised to find a cure--research is done while medication is being given---WOW a cure is found. This is bigger than you and I! But remember, there are innocent people that's not sleeping around town that get this deadly disease! So please don't be so quick to be harsh. It's a very sensitive subject to some people.
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