Scientist develops virus that targets HIV

[Cosmicdancer]

This concept seems similar to Peregrine's Bavituximab.  Using a virus (instead of a monoclonal antibody) as a way of tagging HIV infected cells so that they can be destroyed by other drugs.  Not enough info here to know exactly how this works though, and of course human trials are a long way off.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110808154132.htm

Scientist Develops Virus That Targets HIV: Using a Virus to
Kill a Virus

ScienceDaily (Aug. 8, 2011) — In what represents an important step toward curing HIV, a USC scientist has created a virus that hunts down HIV-infected cells.
 

Dr. Pin Wang's lentiviral vector latches onto HIV-infected cells, flagging them with what is called "suicide gene therapy" -- allowing drugs to later target and destroy them.

"If you deplete all of the HIV-infected cells, you can at least partially solve the problem," said Wang, chemical engineering professor with the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.

The process is analogous to the military practice of "buddy lasing" -- that is, having a soldier on the ground illuminate a target with a laser to guide a precision bombing strike from an aircraft.

Like a precision bombing raid, the lentiviral vector approach to targeting HIV has the advantage of avoiding collateral damage, keeping cells that are not infected by HIV out of harm's way. Such accuracy has not been achieved by using drugs alone, Wang said.

So far, the lentiviral vector has only been tested in culture dishes and has resulted in the destruction of about 35 percent of existing HIV cells. While that may not sound like a large percentage, if this treatment were to be used in humans, it would likely be repeated several times to maximize effectiveness.

Among the next steps will be to test the procedure in mice. While this is an important breakthrough, it is not yet a cure, Wang said.

"This is an early stage of research, but certainly it is one of the options in that direction," he said.
Wang's research, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health, appears in the July 23 issue of Virus Research

[Coolio_7]

Sounds promising! It will be interesting to see how this performs in mice and if it will get to human clnical trials. There is already tough challenges trying to get the CMV vector used in another therapeutic approach safe for humans so we will have to wait to see how his pans out over time.

Although fighting a virus with another virus is a novel approach.  Thanks for the post!

[MiniPozToyota]

Hopefully this will work.. cant wait to see the trails in the mice cases who knows....

[buginme2]

I like that the article used a military analogy, made for more exciting reading.

[mecch]

cool.

[Hoover]

Imagine getting a virus to kill the HIV virus.
After being infected by the good virus,
would we be asked to do our public service and go have lots of sex to spread it?
 

Hoover

[metekrop]

I like that the article used a military analogy, made for more exciting reading.

Yea, I am sorry for those mice that will be put under the military practice of "buddy lasting". 

[GoodByeAtripla]

interesting, thanks for shareing.
i hope a miracle going to happen soon :x