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Author Topic: Montagnier. A deserved (quarter of) Nobel prize for medicine?  (Read 7676 times)

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Offline leit

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Montagnier. A deserved (quarter of) Nobel prize for medicine?
« on: October 06, 2008, 11:50:43 am »
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7654214.stm

He has only isolated a virus, made rich royalties with the relevant (trivial) antibody test, made up regularly invalidated theories (mycoplasma cofactor and so), continually promised imminent (and never coming) "therapeutic immunogens/vaccines", ending up as a fermented papaya testimonial.
Definitely not a hero, IMHO.


Offline leit

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Re: Montagnier. A deserved (quarter of) Nobel prize for medicine?
« Reply #1 on: October 07, 2008, 10:15:47 am »
EXCERPT FROM Telephone interview with Luc Montagnier immediately following the announcement of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 6 October 2008. The interview was recorded while Luc Montagnier was attending a conference in the Ivory Coast, and the interviewer is Adam Smith, Editor-in-Chief of Nobelprize.org.

------------

[AS] What do you think is the main message that you would like to send out after this award?

[LM] Well, the main message I will convey that even after 20 years we are still fighting this virus, very strongly, and the AIDS epidemic – I am now in an African country – is still spreading in Africa in [inaudible], so the fight is not finished. And I appreciate that the Nobel Committee has put on the air this important disease which is not finished, and my message is that we should continue the research. And myself I'm working on a vaccine – not a preventive vaccine but on a therapeutic vaccine which is aimed at completing the antiretroviral therapy which is now given to many patients even in Africa, but which does not cure. So the idea is to eradicate the virus infection. I think this is the main step now.

[AS] Yes, and what is the most urgent research need, do you think, in AIDS nowadays?

[LM] Well, the important research should be done on completing the treatments which are given to patients, for life. And I know that in Africa it's not possible to give a treatment for life. Because we give up before. So the idea is to buy a treatment which, like for tuberculosis, could be given for a short period of time – 6 to 9 months – and then stopped. And then vaccinate the people by a combination of viral protein, which I'm working on, so that the immune system of the host, of the person which is infected, will defend himself. Nature has shown us a few percent of people which are in this stage. They are infected, they are not sick. So the idea is to make most of these people, infected people, never sick, for life. So I think this would be very important, but I've tried to quantify all the forms of the virus. So I'm also working on that. There are probably some very small forms of the virus which escape [inaudible] and the immune system. So we have to identify those foremost. I think the AIDS epidemic is caused by a very old virus. And probably the virus was in Africa for a long period of time, as shown in some recent papers.

[AS] Yes.

[LM] But, what is new in Africa, like in the North America, is the epidemic. The AIDS epidemic started about the same time in Africa, in big cities, in Africa and North America. And we have to explain why. I think there are factors; I've been promoting a virical cofactor for a long time. But I'm beginning not to think those cofactors may act indirectly by inducing mutations – oxidative stress, free radicals which can induce mutations in the virus. What they have shown the virus is the enormous potential to change all the time. This is new, quite new, and was the cause of the epidemic. So we have to put back the virus in this Pandora's box, you know. And for that we have to not only find physically treatments but also improve the hygiene conditions, especially in Africa, and these conditions are so very important so that the immune system will be very active.

------------

- "I'm working on a vaccine – not a preventive vaccine but on a therapeutic vaccine."  WHAT "THERAPEUTIC VACCINE" (in 3-4 years!!!)?
- "The idea is to eradicate the virus infection."  OH, REALLY?
- "vaccinate the people by a combination of viral protein, which I'm working on, so that the immune system of the host, of the person which is infected, will defend himself."  WHAT "COMBINATION OF VIRAL PROTEIN" CAN DO THAT?
- "There are probably some very small forms of the virus which escape [inaudible] and the immune system."  "VERY SMALL FORMS OF THE VIRUS" ???
- "I'm beginning not to think those cofactors may act indirectly by inducing mutations – oxidative stress, free radicals which can induce mutations in the virus. What they have shown the virus is the enormous potential to change all the time. This is new, quite new."  ???

ANY EXPLANATION/INTERPRETATION WELCOME!
« Last Edit: October 07, 2008, 10:54:19 am by leit »

Offline veritas

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Offline leit

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Re: Montagnier. A deserved (quarter of) Nobel prize for medicine?
« Reply #4 on: October 07, 2008, 04:14:40 pm »
Thank you, "veritas", but your links only confirm that Montagnier has been telling vague and baseless stories for decades (and he persists).


Offline veritas

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Re: Montagnier. A deserved (quarter of) Nobel prize for medicine?
« Reply #5 on: October 07, 2008, 05:23:57 pm »
I guess the members of the Nobel Prize Commitee thought differently:


http://www.newssniffer.co.uk/articles/162158/diff/10/11

Offline leit

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Re: Montagnier. A deserved (quarter of) Nobel prize for medicine?
« Reply #6 on: October 07, 2008, 07:56:54 pm »
I guess the members of the Nobel Prize Commitee thought differently:

This Sir, who created a salvific vaccine, who experimented it first on himself and his two daughters, who refused to patent his invention, DID NOT GET the Nobel.
So, the Nobel Prize Committee is far from being God, and it proved this once more giving a quarter of the Prize to a pipsqueak like Montagnier.


Offline leit

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Re: Montagnier. A deserved (quarter of) Nobel prize for medicine?
« Reply #7 on: October 11, 2008, 01:34:04 pm »
Here's the latest "scientific" paper published by Mr. Fantasy (a.k.a. Montagnier) I found. Gist: if HIV infection was curable, it would be curable.

------

From "Future HIV Therapy", May 2007, Vol. 1, No. 1, Pages 3-4
(doi:10.2217/17469600.1.1.3)



TOWARD FUNCTIONAL ERADICATION OF HIV INFECTION

Luc Montagnier


One of the greatest achievements of biomedical research has been the use of combined highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for the treatment of HIV-infected patients. The profound decrease in viral multiplication obtained by a combination of reverse transcriptase and protease inhibitors results in partial restoration of the immune system, sufficient to prevent most opportunistic infections and cancers, and therefore to maintain HIV-infected patients in a relatively good condition.

However, no complete cure has been achieved with any of the combined treatments. Despite the fact that viral RNA in the plasma can be reduced to levels that are undetectable by most sensitive molecular techniques, there remains a fraction of the virus population apparently insensitive to retroviral inhibitors. When treatment is interrupted, virus multiplication resumes and within weeks reaches the initial level that existed before the treatment. The nature of the viral reservoir at the origin of this rebound is a matter of discussion. It could come from long-lived cells where viral DNA has integrated, such as dormant stem cells, or from cells or tissues poorly accessible to antiviral drugs. By centrifuging plasma from patients under treatment over a sucrose density gradient, we have been able to detect infectious particles, despite the fact that such particles were not detected by sensitive molecular techniques measuring viral load. Moreover, such patients exhibit signs of residual disease: the number of CD4 T cells and the ratio of CD4 to CD8 cells never reaches the normal values observed in HIV-negative patients, even after years of antiretroviral treatment. Ex vivo, we can detect abnormal activation of macrophages, as evidenced by the over-expression of fas ligand. At the clinical level, long-term treatment results in serious side effects (perturbation of lipid metabolism leading to cardiovascular problems), and in the emergence of drug-resistant viral mutants, not to mention the abyssal cost of such treatment.

Therefore, there is a strong need for additional therapy aimed at a functional - not necessarily physical - eradication of the viral infection, so that treatment duration will be limited.

The pharmaceutical industry is engaged in the design and commercialization of new types of viral inhibitors, acting on new targets of the viral multiplication cycle: inhibitors of the viral integrase, of the binding of virus to cellular receptors, or of the fusion of the viral membrane to the plasma membrane. Although this new generation of drugs could be expected to provide a better suppression of viral multiplication and an efficient treatment for patients infected with viruses resistant to classical inhibitors, it is unlikely that, alone, they will achieve viral eradication.

In fact, examples of other bacterial and viral infections indicate that functional eradication can be achieved by chemotherapy if the immune system of the host is competent. For instance, active tuberculosis can be suppressed by a prolonged but limited (6-9 months) term of antibiotherapy with three or four antibiotics. Similarly, chronic hepatitis B can be cured, at least of its viral causative agent, by antiviral treatment. The hepatitis B virus (HBV), an oncodnavirus, integrates its DNA into the host DNA, as does HIV. DNA integration is therefore not the main cause of treatment failure in HIV infection.

The main difference between HBV and HIV infections is the profound CD4-dependent immune depression induced by the latter, which partly persists even after the viral load has become undetectable in the plasma. The logical conclusion is that eradication or at least control of HIV infection to harmless levels will require a fully competent immune system, particularly in its cell-mediated component. This can be achieved by testing combinations of general and specific immunostimulants in clinical trials. The end point of such trials will be easy to measure: the lack of viral rebound after interruption of antiretroviral therapy.

A typical protocol would be the following: first, antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for 3-6 months to reduce viral load in the plasma to undetectable levels and maintain it until the protocol has been terminated. Then, treat with antioxidants and immunostimulants, such as an orally absorbable form of glutathion, to reduce the oxidative stress induced by viral proteins and by HAART. Reduced glutathion is known to induce a shift from T-helper cell type 2 to T-helper cell type 1 responses, therefore reinforcing cell-mediated immunity. Its effect can be enhanced by some synthetic immunostimulants, which are now close to approval for clinical use by regulatory authorities. After a 2-week treatment period with the former products, specific immunization against HIV proteins using a therapeutic vaccine should be started. Trials with vaccine preparations made for therapeutic use have already been carried out, with mixed results, probably because the immune system of the patients was not sufficiently restored, and/or due to the inadequacy of the immunogens. Data from genetic engineering indicate that the native HIV glycoprotein must be modified in order to make the most conserved parts of the protein immunogenic, including the pocket involved in HIV binding. This will result in a neutralization capacity broad enough to cover potential escape mutants. I would also advise adding two other proteins involved in immunosuppression to the vaccine preparation, Tat and Nef, modified to become nonfunctional while remaining immunogenic. After this vaccination, HAART should be interrupted. If the protocol has been successful, there will be no viral rebound, as evidenced by a low viral load and an increase in the CD4 T-cell component. Regular monitoring of these two parameters will assess the durability of the immunization. A strong cell-mediated immunity, in addition to the induction of neutralizing antibodies, will interrupt a cycle of new cell infections by newly formed viral particles. This control already exists spontaneously in a small number of HIV-infected patients, who show no immune depression even after many years.

This protocol is complex, but will be less expensive and much more tolerable for the patient than life-long antiretroviral therapy.

The protocol can also be applied to patients in the early stages of HIV infection, perhaps with a better chance of success, as their immune system will have a better ability to respond.

If, in this optimistic scenario, HIV infection becomes a curable disease, the impact on the epidemic itself will be considerable: in developing countries, HIV infection represents a stigma for familial and professional life. Many infected individuals do not want to be tested and to learn their status, and as a consequence they transmit the virus to new partners. The prospect of being treated for a cure immediately after the diagnosis of HIV infection will encourage early testing and lead to the emergence of responsible behaviors.

Moreover, the success of a therapeutic vaccine will facilitate the design of an efficient preventive vaccine, based on the same viral components.



Offline tkeyspet

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  • TK its me lol
    • http://comsoftlimbe.yolasite.com/
Re: Montagnier. A deserved (quarter of) Nobel prize for medicine?
« Reply #9 on: November 04, 2009, 04:11:26 am »
04 Nov 09, from what i read it was about jan 2008  one year down the line and hmm lets wait for the 3 yrs ::)

 


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