Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
March 28, 2024, 07:37:21 pm

Login with username, password and session length


Members
Stats
  • Total Posts: 772947
  • Total Topics: 66310
  • Online Today: 441
  • Online Ever: 5484
  • (June 18, 2021, 11:15:29 pm)
Users Online
Users: 2
Guests: 322
Total: 324

Welcome


Welcome to the POZ Community Forums, a round-the-clock discussion area for people with HIV/AIDS, their friends/family/caregivers, and others concerned about HIV/AIDS.  Click on the links below to browse our various forums; scroll down for a glance at the most recent posts; or join in the conversation yourself by registering on the left side of this page.

Privacy Warning:  Please realize that these forums are open to all, and are fully searchable via Google and other search engines. If you are HIV positive and disclose this in our forums, then it is almost the same thing as telling the whole world (or at least the World Wide Web). If this concerns you, then do not use a username or avatar that are self-identifying in any way. We do not allow the deletion of anything you post in these forums, so think before you post.

  • The information shared in these forums, by moderators and members, is designed to complement, not replace, the relationship between an individual and his/her own physician.

  • All members of these forums are, by default, not considered to be licensed medical providers. If otherwise, users must clearly define themselves as such.

  • Forums members must behave at all times with respect and honesty. Posting guidelines, including time-out and banning policies, have been established by the moderators of these forums. Click here for “Do I Have HIV?” posting guidelines. Click here for posting guidelines pertaining to all other POZ community forums.

  • We ask all forums members to provide references for health/medical/scientific information they provide, when it is not a personal experience being discussed. Please provide hyperlinks with full URLs or full citations of published works not available via the Internet. Additionally, all forums members must post information which are true and correct to their knowledge.

  • Product advertisement—including links; banners; editorial content; and clinical trial, study or survey participation—is strictly prohibited by forums members unless permission has been secured from POZ.

To change forums navigation language settings, click here (members only), Register now

Para cambiar sus preferencias de los foros en español, haz clic aquí (sólo miembros), Regístrate ahora

Finished Reading This? You can collapse this or any other box on this page by clicking the symbol in each box.

Author Topic: Hope for new AIDS protection seen in mouse study  (Read 9347 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline geobee

  • Member
  • Posts: 376
Hope for new AIDS protection seen in mouse study
« on: November 30, 2011, 04:10:46 pm »
This seems promising -- instead of eliciting antibodies via vaccine, they are elicited by injecting a gene which causes your body to produce them.   Here's the link:

http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2011/11/30/hope_for_new_aids_protection_seen_in_mouse_study/

"Dr. Harris Goldstein, director of the Einstein-Montefiore Center for AIDS Research in New York, who has done similar research in mice, called Baltimore's result a significant advance if it works in humans because it shows a single injection produces high levels of antibodies for a long time.

It might lead not only to preventing infection, but also a treatment for infected people, he said. If it allowed people with HIV to stop or reduce their medications even for temporary periods, they could avoid the inconvenience and side effects of the drugs, he said."


Offline Cosmicdancer

  • Member
  • Posts: 199
Re: Hope for new AIDS protection seen in mouse study
« Reply #1 on: November 30, 2011, 11:09:57 pm »
Another article on this gene therapy technique.  The results are really impressive.  The two research teams are using a very similar method of using "a genetically altered adenovirus to infect muscle cells and deliver DNA that codes for antibodies isolated from the blood of people infected with HIV... Baltimore and his colleagues tested five different broadly neutralizing antibodies, one at a time, in mice with humanized immune systems. Two of the antibodies, called b12 and VRC01, proved completely protective — even when the mice received doses of HIV that were 100 times higher than a natural infection. After 52 weeks, the levels of antibody expression remained high, suggesting that a single dose would result in long-lasting protection." One research team hopes to begin human trials next year. 

http://www.nature.com/news/gene-therapy-can-protect-against-hiv-1.9516

Gene therapy can protect against HIV
An introduced gene conveys long-lived resistance to HIV infection in mice.

Lauren Gravitz

30 November 2011

Gene therapy, an approach most commonly explored for curing chronic genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis, may also prove practical for disease prevention. In research published today in Nature, scientists in California show that a single injection — which inserted the DNA for an HIV-neutralizing antibody into the muscle cells of live mice — completely protected the animals against HIV transmission.

The road to a vaccine against HIV has proved to be far longer than originally anticipated. More than 2 million adults are newly infected with HIV every year and, nearly three decades after the virus was first identified, researchers haven’t found a reliable way to prevent infection. The classic vaccine approach, which uses all or part of an inactivated virus to induce immunity, has yielded little success because HIV has managed to disguise most of the easily-recognised external structures that antibodies would target. Researchers have thus had a tough time finding a molecule that can induce even moderately broad responses against the virus in all its different mutations. So although it might sound extreme to use gene therapy as a preventative treatment for HIV/AIDS, the method could provide a much-needed alternative.
 
Researchers hope to prevent the spread of HIV (virus particle pictured) by using gene therapy to get cells to produce antibodies.

David Baltimore, a virologist and HIV researcher at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, and his colleagues used a genetically altered adenovirus to infect muscle cells and deliver DNA that codes for antibodies isolated from the blood of people infected with HIV. The DNA is incorporated into the muscle cells’ genome and programs the cells to manufacture the antibody, which is then secreted into the bloodstream. The tactic builds on earlier work by scientists at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, who in 2009 first described the effectiveness of this technique in preventing transmission of simian immunodeficiency virus, which is similar to HIV but infects monkeys.

As for the rationale for using gene therapy for HIV: “This is something way out of the ordinary, and it’s perfectly reasonable to say that there’s no reason to do it if there’s an alternative," says Baltimore. "But if there’s no alternative — and that’s where we’re at today — then we should be thinking of new ways to protect people.”

Dennis Burton, an immunologist at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, who has developed a number of antibodies against HIV, agrees. “Obviously, the best thing of all is a vaccine. That’s a tried-and-tested method that carries very few risks. But if that doesn’t work, what’s our fall-back position?” he asks. “We have these antibodies, and we have them available now. If this works in humans, and that’s a reasonable supposition, you’d have something you can do now.”

Prolonged protection

Baltimore and his colleagues tested five different broadly neutralizing antibodies, one at a time, in mice with humanized immune systems. Two of the antibodies, called b12 and VRC01, proved completely protective — even when the mice received doses of HIV that were 100 times higher than a natural infection. After 52 weeks, the levels of antibody expression remained high, suggesting that a single dose would result in long-lasting protection. “We showed that you can express protective levels of antibodies in a mammal and have that expression last for a long period of time,” Baltimore says. “It sets the stage for human trials.”
Providing patients with periodic doses of these antibodies throughout their lifetime would be safer than coaxing antibody production from muscle cells, but it would be far from cost-effective. The gene-therapy approach, by contrast, recruits muscle cells to act as antibody factories and could be administered using a single intramuscular shot.

Experts in the field are cautiously optimistic. “Mice and monkeys don’t always tell the truth. It’s a really interesting idea, and it should be assessed in clinical trials,” says Wayne Koff, senior vice-president for research and development at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative in New York. “Until someone shows that we can make these broadly neutralizing antibodies with a [classic] vaccine, I think this is an important concept that should be supported.”

But both Burton and Koff caution that gene therapy comes with its own set of problems. Because the antibody DNA is permanently inserted into the genome, there’s no way to turn it off if someone has an immune reaction against the antibodies. But it won't be known whether such side effects exist until the method is tested in people, something that Baltimore aims to do in the next few years. The researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, meanwhile, hope to get the first round of human trials of their technique started before the end of 2012.
Summer, 2007 - &$#@?
November, 2007 - Tested poz, 300,000 vl, 560 cd4
Feb, 2008 - 57,000 vl, 520 cd4, started Atripla
2/2008 - 5/2015 - undetectable on Atripla
May, 2015 - UD, switched to Complera
September, 2015 - UD, 980 cd4, switched to Stribild (Complera interacted with acid reflux medication)
January, 2016 - Stribild, UD, 950 cd4
June, 2016 - UD, 929 cd4


Offline geobee

  • Member
  • Posts: 376
Re: Hope for new AIDS protection seen in mouse study
« Reply #3 on: December 02, 2011, 05:05:30 pm »
Hey coolstone25,

Thank you for posting those links, particulary the bottom one with the interview clip of Dr. Baltimore.  Such an intriguing idea, using muscle tissue as an antibody factory!  Seems to me it might only be used therapeutically if it actually works to rid the body of infection.  If it worked, you'd give a shot to everyone that's infected.

When I was first infected two years ago, I siezed on every cure -- possible a standard newbie reaction(?) -- as the next miracle.  OK, I'm over that phase.  But I still said "wow" to myself while listening to this in my local Berkeley coffee shop.  I know there are a lot of ifs (mice not like humans, toxicity, carcinogenicity, efficacy, etc.) but this road has sure been promising so far.  

George
« Last Edit: December 02, 2011, 05:09:59 pm by geobee »

Offline csguy1

  • Member
  • Posts: 36
Re: Hope for new AIDS protection seen in mouse study
« Reply #4 on: December 03, 2011, 12:22:11 am »
Thanks for that post. I too having been just recently diagnosed as + just a couple of weeks ago, have done alot of research about HIV, how to live with it, and hopeful cures. I'm a pretty sci-ency guy so I find it fascinating what science has done so far with the treatment of HIV, from only 30 years would kill someone, till yesterday the president, Dr. Sanja Gupta and few others aiming towards worldwide treatment and to bring the death toll to 0 by 2015.  I am even more optimistic and hopeful that scientists will one day find a cure and a vaccine towards HIV/AIDS. We must continue fighting by bringing our efforts together to further fund and  supply money for those in need of treatment, and also those who are in search of a cure and vaccine.

Offline leatherman

  • Global Moderator
  • Member
  • Posts: 8,593
  • Google and HIV meds are Your Friends
Re: Hope for new AIDS protection seen in mouse study
« Reply #5 on: December 03, 2011, 01:06:54 am »
to bring the death toll to 0 by 2015.
actually the goal is ZERO mother-to-child transmission rate by the year 2015

info from (RED)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80vufbq6qrY
info from ONE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejgQFbPBumw
(we, and our partners TellThem! and ONE, used these as part of our World AIDS Day video event last night  ;) )

Sadly the death rate from AIDS is actually going up in many southern US states because stigma, lack of education, and lack of resources are allowing people to go untested and untreated for so long that by the time many people are being diagnosed, it's already too late. The CDC just announced before WAD that in America, 20% of those infected don't even know their status, and there so many going without proper treatment or staying adherent, that only 28% actually have the virus under control (which would help contribute to a lower infection rate)

So HIV will still be spreading for quiet some time; and it's going to be a long, long time until we see a death toll of 0 from AIDS in this country  :'(

http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=40850.0
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/cdc-study-just-1-in-4-americans-with-hiv-have-infection-under-control-with-medications/2011/11/29/gIQAdJx08N_story.html
leatherman (aka Michael)

We were standing all alone
You were leaning in to speak to me
Acting like a mover shaker
Dancing to Madonna then you kissed me
And I think about it all the time
- Darren Hayes, "Chained to You"

Offline csguy1

  • Member
  • Posts: 36
Re: Hope for new AIDS protection seen in mouse study
« Reply #6 on: December 04, 2011, 10:59:43 pm »
Thanks for the reply but I did read it correctly here is the quote: ""Getting To Zero: Zero New Infections, Zero Discrimination And Zero Aids-Related Deaths."  from the Worlds Aids Campaign website along with the UNAIDS publication itself: http://www.unaids.org/en/media/unaids/contentassets/documents/unaidspublication/2010/JC2034_UNAIDS_Strategy_en.pdf

I know this does sound like a tough almost unrealistic initiative. But if we all work together in communicating to get tested, get on anti-retrovirals if positive, supply and get ARV's to everyone infected, diffuse what HIV is and where we stand today to greater population, Have more funding towards this initiative. It is possible @ least I hope.

Offline AlexMerida

  • Member
  • Posts: 28
Re: Hope for new AIDS protection seen in mouse study
« Reply #7 on: December 05, 2011, 02:15:01 pm »
Is any pregnat woman in a USA waiting list for ARV ?

Is the budget for ARV has been increasing every year?

Treatment = prevention (Dr. Fauci)


Offline leatherman

  • Global Moderator
  • Member
  • Posts: 8,593
  • Google and HIV meds are Your Friends
Re: Hope for new AIDS protection seen in mouse study
« Reply #8 on: December 05, 2011, 03:00:53 pm »
Thanks for the reply but I did read it correctly here is the quote:
....
I know this does sound like a tough almost unrealistic initiative.
thanks for all that. ;)

As I pointed out many agencies are promoting the realistic goal of ZERO mother-to-child transmissions by 2015; but I had no idea that anyone even remotely believed that 0 infections, 0 deaths, or 0 discrimination was even a viable enough goal to talk about in the time frame that document does.

In America where discimination is still rampant, death-rates are rising, infection rates have remained stagnant for several years (and are going up in some areas), where there is not enough funding to treat everyone, and where only 28% those HIV-infected are classified as receiving proper treatment (having access to treatment and remaining stable with a UD VL), you won't see these ZERO goals received by 2018 that's for sure.

Without universal testing (in America), 20% of those infected don't even know their status and often contribute to AIDS-related deaths. on average 33% of those diagnosed with HIV are diagnosed in the hospital, when they have often already reached the stage of AIDS. Many of those people pass away because, quite simply, they went untested for too long.

I'm sorry; but I think those UNAIDS goals are incredibly unrealistic.

Is the budget for ARV has been increasing every year?
Many state budgets for ARV-support have been lowered year after year even though the amount of need has been rising. This has led to the ADAP waiting lists. Over the last decade, the federal budget to the states has also been lowered though the amount of those diagnosed has risen. Even the federal efforts to the rest of the world world (like PEPFAR) have been reduced over the years and not expanded to deal with the increasing number of infected.
leatherman (aka Michael)

We were standing all alone
You were leaning in to speak to me
Acting like a mover shaker
Dancing to Madonna then you kissed me
And I think about it all the time
- Darren Hayes, "Chained to You"

Offline AlexMerida

  • Member
  • Posts: 28
Re: Hope for new AIDS protection seen in mouse study
« Reply #9 on: December 05, 2011, 08:11:19 pm »
thank you very much for your answer.

 it is sad to listen to the reality.

therefore are there pregnant women  with HIV  in a waiting list? (USA)

Politicians from time to time look for eslogans (prety words)  it makes that them seem renewed that they give the idea us that the things are changing. the politicians say a thing and the facts go directed to contradict itself.


Offline leatherman

  • Global Moderator
  • Member
  • Posts: 8,593
  • Google and HIV meds are Your Friends
Re: Hope for new AIDS protection seen in mouse study
« Reply #10 on: December 05, 2011, 08:50:31 pm »
therefore are there pregnant women  with HIV  in a waiting list? (USA)
I have no definitive answer for you; but I do think the answer is likely "no", that women who are pregnant do receive ARVs and do not end up on the waiting lists. below is some data that explains my reasoning.

today while looking at information about Florida I came across this note
Quote
Please note: Pregnant women, pediatric or adolescent individuals who meet ADAP enrollment criteria and are not eligible for other programs are exempt from being placed on the waiting list and will be immediately enrolled for services. Providers can request a medical review for patient(s) who have an extreme medical
http://www.doh.state.fl.us/disease_ctrl/aids/care/waiting_list.html

and here's info from Illinois
Quote
Q: What if I don't have insurance? How will I afford my medications?
A: In Illinois, all pregnant women are eligible for Medicaid - regardless of their legal status in this country.  If a woman is uninsured prior to pregnancy, she should go to her nearest Public Aid office to apply for a medical card as soon as possible.  Medicaid covers all necessary HIV medications.  The AIDS Drug Assistance Program, or ADAP, is a federally funded program that also covers HIV medications for those individuals without insurance or individuals with insurance who meet the financial criteria.  This program varies from state to state, but in Illinois there is no waiting list of ADAP applicants.  While pregnant in Illinois, women covered by Medicaid should not need ADAP to cover medications, but this may be a helpful resource post-partum, if Medicaid is discontinued.
http://www.hivpregnancyhotline.org/pregnantandpositive/faq.aspx

while not specifically saying they will be treated, SC ADAP does take pregnancy into consideration
Quote
Acceptance into SC ADAP is made on a first–come first–served basis. Priority is not given based
on medical criteria such as CD4 counts or viral loads. Circumstances that warrant expedited
processing, such as pregnancy or drug therapy interruption, should either be described in detail
on the application, or attached separately and faxed to the ADAP Director‟s attention. These
applications will be reviewed and prioritized for expedited processing.
http://www.scdhec.gov/health/disease/stdhiv/docs/ADAP_Guidlines.pdf

in doing a search for "ADAP pregnant" on google, I am seeing that most ADAPs (VA, GA, NC) make an exception to allow women who are pregnant to receive ARVs. Also since mother-to-child transmission rates are down to incredibly tiny amounts here in the states (http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/perinatal/resources/factsheets/perinatal.htm, mainly by mothers not diagnosed early or whom did not receive prevention services), I would assume that most pregnant women in America do receive adequate and timely ARV treatment.
leatherman (aka Michael)

We were standing all alone
You were leaning in to speak to me
Acting like a mover shaker
Dancing to Madonna then you kissed me
And I think about it all the time
- Darren Hayes, "Chained to You"

Offline csguy1

  • Member
  • Posts: 36
Re: Hope for new AIDS protection seen in mouse study
« Reply #11 on: December 05, 2011, 11:58:47 pm »
It is quite a hard thing for UNAIDS to announce. The facts are the facts and its definitely tough to hear, especially coming from a long time survivor like you, you definitely have seen the whole progression of HIV/AIDS to where we are today. Unless major changes are done financially and socially, I think the 2015 goal is almost an unrealistic one as well. However I do believe if people as whole work together alot can get accomplished between now and 2015. Even though we might not see 0, if we all play a role in informing people to get tested, get helped financially to provide ARV treatment to population masses, and educate those are currently ignorant through social networks and other means to reach greater masses and get them informed, I do believe we can achieve getting close to that 0 figure.

Offline freewillie99

  • Member
  • Posts: 326
Re: Hope for new AIDS protection seen in mouse study
« Reply #12 on: December 19, 2011, 12:06:05 pm »
Any time a Nobel winner like Dr. Baltimore who specializes in retroviruses is as enthusiastic about a treatment as he is about this one, I sit up and take notice.

I ♥ Gene Therapy!
Beware Romanians bearing strange gifts

Offline freewillie99

  • Member
  • Posts: 326
Re: Hope for new AIDS protection seen in mouse study
« Reply #13 on: December 19, 2011, 03:14:55 pm »
This is cool.  First check out this video; first posted on YouTube in April 2010 (coming up on two years ago):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTav_6KekI8

It really relates to the latest announcement at 9:09, but the whole thing is good.

Then watch the video which was linked to in an above post and posted on the web 11/29 of this year:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4FzBC8pqDc

Big progress.
Beware Romanians bearing strange gifts

Offline geobee

  • Member
  • Posts: 376
Re: Hope for new AIDS protection seen in mouse study
« Reply #14 on: December 19, 2011, 05:06:30 pm »
I really liked a sentence in the last paragraph of the paper by Balasz/Baltimore et al:

"Beyond infectious diseases, VIP can be applied to therapeutic regimens in which continuous production of monoclonal antibodies in vivo is desirable. Given the level of protection that VIP has demonstrated in vivo, we believe that highly effective prophylaxis through expression of existing monoclonal antibodies against HIV in humans is achievable."

Sound like the therapeutic application is a real possibility.  Cool!

Here's a link to the paper -- way too technical for me --

http://www.scribd.com/doc/74373939/Antibody-Based-Protection-Against-HIV-Infection-by-Vectored-Immunoprophylaxis

 


Terms of Membership for these forums
 

© 2024 Smart + Strong. All Rights Reserved.   terms of use and your privacy
Smart + Strong® is a registered trademark of CDM Publishing, LLC.