New anti-HIV drug is so effective it's almost like a vaccine
42 replies, posted
[url]http://www.sciencealert.com/potential-new-vaccine-blocks-every-strain-of-hiv?utm_source=Article&utm_medium=Website&utm_campaign=InArticleReadMore[/url]
[quote] A new drug candidate is so potent against all strains of HIV, researchers think it could work as a new kind of vaccine. Developed by researchers from more than a dozen research institutions and led by a team at the Scripps Research Institute in the US, the drug is effective against doses of HIV-1, HIV-2 and SIV (simian immunodeficiency virus) that have been extracted from humans or rhesus macaques - including what researchers consider to be the ‘hardest-to-stop’ variants. It worked against doses of HIV that are way higher than what would be transmitted between humans, and works for at least eight months after injection. "Our compound is the broadest and most potent entry inhibitor described so far,” lead researcher Michael Farzan from the Scripps Institute said in a press release. "Unlike antibodies, which fail to neutralise a large fraction of HIV-1 strains, our protein has been effective against all strains tested, raising the possibility it could offer an effective HIV vaccine alternative.”
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But what Farzan’s team has discovered is that a particular type of protein found on the surface of white blood cells can actually bind to the surface of the HIV virus in two different places simultaneously, which means that not only does the virus no longer have a chance to change the position of its receptors to escape, it’s also being blocked from entering the T lymphocyte cells. "When antibodies try to mimic the receptor, they touch a lot of other parts of the viral envelope that HIV can change with ease," said one of the team, Matthew Gardner, from the Scripps Institute. "We've developed a direct mimic of the receptors without providing many avenues that the virus can use to escape, so we catch every virus thus far.”
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from what I gather, instead of trying to create an anti-body, it just clogs up the virus surface with analogues of the proteins it attaches to on the cells themselves, so they can't actually attach.
You're next, cancer
The whole article is interesting. It's like a vaccine in purpose, but is really a clever manipulation of T cell physics.
[quote]"We are closer than any other approach to universal protection, but we still have hurdles, primarily with safety for giving it to many, many people,” Franzen told the BBC. One such concern is that no one really knows what the long-term implications would be for a person who is having an anti-HIV response being pumped around their body non-stop. The team will be looking into this when they get their human trials underway.[/quote]
Clinical testing etc, as always. Prepare to not hear about it for years.
[QUOTE=bitches;47760762]The whole article is interesting. It's like a vaccine in purpose, but is really a clever manipulation of T cell physics.
Clinical testing etc, as always. Prepare to not hear about it for years.[/QUOTE]
Possibly, but I remember hearing about this a while back before when they were just discussing the ability to target multiple binding receptors simultaneously, since its a large collaborative research effort I think it might be pretty prominent if the clinicals look good
-snip-
nice
Only a psycho would be against this
waiting for THAT ONE comment we all know and love
[QUOTE=SIRIUS;47761465]waiting for THAT ONE comment we all know and love[/QUOTE]
We will never hear about this again?
[QUOTE=SIRIUS;47761465]waiting for THAT ONE comment we all know and love[/QUOTE]
speedtest.net?
The future looks very promising; when I'll finish medschool.
[QUOTE=blah2;47761553]We will never hear about this again?[/QUOTE]
there it is
holy crap. if this works as intended, it might be possible to eradicate HIV altogether.
Can't wait for the autism!
Imagine an HIV free Africa, it would solve so damn many problems.
I really hope that in the next 20 years HIV, AIDS, all forms of cancer, MS, Alzheimers disease and so on can be cured. We seem to be on the edge of making a cure for almost every disease. If we survive the next 2-3 decades and provided you have the money, you may be able to live forever.
[QUOTE=Buck.;47761652]I really hope that in the next 20 years HIV, AIDS, all forms of cancer, MS, Alzheimers disease and so on can be cured. We seem to be on the edge of making a cure for almost every disease. If we survive the next 2-3 decades and provided you have the money, you may be able to live forever.[/QUOTE]
But we will watch our parents die from it :(
[QUOTE=Buck.;47761652]I really hope that in the next 20 years HIV, AIDS, all forms of cancer, MS, Alzheimers disease and so on can be cured. We seem to be on the edge of making a cure for almost every disease. If we survive the next 2-3 decades and provided you have the money, you may be able to live forever.[/QUOTE]
Anti-biotic resistant bacteria and man made diseases would become the major players on the scene, perhaps not targeting humans directly but destroying crops and ecosystems.
[QUOTE=mdeceiver79;47761690]Anti-biotic resistant bacteria and man made diseases would become the major players on the scene, perhaps not targeting humans directly but destroying crops and ecosystems.[/QUOTE]
eh
Antibiotic resistant bacteria is a problem for us much more than any other species. Everything else has gotten along fine without antibiotics for millions of years, there's no reason why bacteria's sudden immunity to whatever manmade drug will affect them.
I am curious as to what you mean by "man made diseases".
[QUOTE=SIRIUS;47761465]waiting for THAT ONE comment we all know and love[/QUOTE]
"Like they'd want to cure it, the ineffective treatments/hospital bills are more profitable?"
[quote=BBC]This technique uses gene therapy to introduce a new section of DNA inside healthy muscle cells.
That strip of DNA contains the instructions for manufacturing the tools to neutralise HIV, which are then constantly pumped out into the bloodstream.[/quote]
They've designed HIV-fighting nano-bots using DNA as the instructions, viruses as communication, and monkeys as a factory. That's incredible..
Unfortunately it seems as though typical applications of medicine won't work with this one. In order for it to be effective in a human they'd have to undergo gene-therapy which will permanently alter some cells to become HIV-killer nanobot spewing machines. Which I'm guessing the cells die out after 34 weeks, meaning the gene-therapy is lost and you become susceptible to HIV again.
It doesn't last as long as a vaccine, and it's not proven safe. We won't be hearing about this one again for a while I'm sure.
[editline]adf[/editline]
Also I can't wait for everyone I know to go "gene-therapy = autism!!", but at least this time it actually makes a bit of sense.
[QUOTE=Zonesylvania;47761568]holy crap. if this works as intended, it might be possible to eradicate HIV altogether.[/QUOTE]
I gather that if it can weaken HIV it can be combined with something else to completely eradicate it. Trap it then destroy it kinda thing.
[QUOTE=Naelstrom;47761774]They've designed HIV-fighting nano-bots using DNA as the instructions, viruses as communication, and monkeys as a factory. That's incredible..
[/QUOTE]
My mind keeps getting blown with these medical advancements.
I feel like there is a new HIV killer discovered every year, and then nothing happens...
[QUOTE=Buck.;47761652]I really hope that in the next 20 years HIV, AIDS, all forms of cancer, MS, Alzheimers disease and so on can be cured. We seem to be on the edge of making a cure for almost every disease. If we survive the next 2-3 decades and provided you have the money, you may be able to live forever.[/QUOTE]
Then come the resource wars
[QUOTE=ultra_bright;47761675]But we will watch our parents die from it :([/QUOTE]
Not really, one of the big ideas for medical immortality is just having treatments effective enough that they add on years of life faster than you can live them.
I mean we're actually starting to make major headway with a shit ton of possible regenerative effects, we're finding drugs that rejuvinate muscle, organs, bone and brain tissue in mice and rats and we're confident we can transfer the effects to people soon.
People seem to misunderstand the speed with which science is advancing, and it's only getting faster as we create or harness new and better tools like CRISPR.
10 years from now we'll start seeing major diseases being reduced to cold and flu levels of inconvenience.
[editline]20th May 2015[/editline]
[QUOTE=Kenneth;47762800]Then come the resource wars[/QUOTE]
Probably not, we won't really need to fight for energy or water if solar and desalination tech continues to get better at the rate it is right now, and again, the rate is only going to get better as time goes on.
[QUOTE=Zonesylvania;47761568]holy crap. if this works as intended, it might be possible to eradicate HIV altogether.[/QUOTE]
It'd be difficult to get this treatment to work effectively for the same reasons we have a lot of trouble treating TB, which being in India, i'm sure you're well aware of. If i'm not mistaken, you'd need a pretty long course of the drug to completely eliminate the HIV. As long as you can keep preventing the infection of new Immune system cells of course.
[QUOTE=J!NX;47761452]Only a psycho would be against this[/QUOTE]
So your avarage corporation wanting to make money.
"19 FEB 2015"
Isn't this pretty old?
[QUOTE=Rapscallion92;47762872]Not really, one of the big ideas for medical immortality is just having treatments effective enough that they add on years of life faster than you can live them.
I mean we're actually starting to make major headway with a shit ton of possible regenerative effects, we're finding drugs that rejuvinate muscle, organs, bone and brain tissue in mice and rats and we're confident we can transfer the effects to people soon.
People seem to misunderstand the speed with which science is advancing, and it's only getting faster as we create or harness new and better tools like CRISPR.
10 years from now we'll start seeing major diseases being reduced to cold and flu levels of inconvenience.
[editline]20th May 2015[/editline]
Probably not, we won't really need to fight for energy or water if solar and desalination tech continues to get better at the rate it is right now, and again, the rate is only going to get better as time goes on.[/QUOTE]
10? More like 50-100 years.
[QUOTE=SpaceGhost;47763593]10? More like 50-100 years.[/QUOTE]
No man, I said 10 because I meant 10.
[url]http://www.sciencealert.com/a-drug-has-been-found-that-rejuvenates-ageing-brain-and-muscle-tissue[/url]
[url]http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/vampire-healing-young-blood-can-mend-old-broken-bones-180955336/?no-ist[/url]
Underestimating the power of scientific and technological capabilities is the sort of shit that will get us killed by Skynet, we can't afford that any more.
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