Antibody combination puts HIV "on the ropes" - Polidicks

[QUOTE][IMG]https://images.sciencedaily.com/2017/01/170125214617_1_540x360.jpg[/IMG] Mutant escapees: A major roadblock to new HIV treatments is the virus’s ability to mutate and dodge the immune system. [I]Credit: Image courtesy of Rockefeller University[/I][/QUOTE] [QUOTE][B]Without antiretroviral drug treatment, the majority of people infected with HIV ultimately develop AIDS, as the virus changes and evolves beyond the body's ability to control it. But a small group of infected individuals -- called elite controllers -- possess immune systems capable of defeating the virus. They accomplish this by manufacturing broadly neutralizing antibodies, which can take down multiple forms of HIV.[/B] Now a study using antibodies from one of these elite controllers has shown that a combination of three such antibodies can completely suppress the virus in HIV-infected mice. The findings, from the laboratory of Michel Nussenzweig, who is Zanvil A. Cohn and Ralph M. Steinman Professor at Rockefeller University and head of the Laboratory of Molecular Immunology, are being reported in Science Translational Medicine. "Some people with HIV produce these antibodies, but most of the time the virus eventually escapes them through mutations in the antibody's corresponding epitope," says postdoctoral fellow Natalia Freund, the study's first author. The epitope is the part of the virus that antibodies recognize and attach themselves to, and this ability to mutate makes HIV particularly tricky to tame. It ensures that once the virus is in their bodies, people remain infected forever, and this may be the biggest roadblock in developing immune therapies to overcome the virus.[/QUOTE] [url]https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170125214617.htm[/url] This new study is built upon a previous one in 2015 that was done on humans, which is linked here: [QUOTE][B]In the first results to emerge from HIV patient trials of a new generation of so-called broadly neutralizing antibodies, Rockefeller University researchers have found the experimental therapy can dramatically reduce the amount of virus present in a patient's blood. The work, reported this week in Nature, brings fresh optimism to the field of HIV immunotherapy and suggests new strategies for fighting or even preventing HIV infection.[/B] In a person infected with HIV, there is an ongoing arms race between the virus and the body's immune system. Even as the body produces new antibodies that target the virus, the virus is constantly mutating to escape, managing to stay just a few steps ahead. The new study, conducted in Michel Nussenzweig's Laboratory of Molecular Immunology, finds that administration of a potent antibody, called 3BNC117, can catch HIV off guard and reduce viral loads. HIV antibodies previously tested in humans had shown disappointing results. 3BNC117 belongs to a new generation of broadly neutralizing antibodies that potently fight a wide range of HIV strains. "What's special about these antibodies is that they have activity against over 80 percent of HIV strains and they are extremely potent," says Marina Caskey, assistant professor of clinical investigation in the Nussenzweig lab and co-first author of the study. 3BN117, which was originally isolated by Johannes Scheid in the Nussenzweig laboratory, targets the CD4 binding site of the HIV envelope, and the CD4 receptor is the primary site of attachment of HIV to host cells, 3BNC117 shows activity against 195 out of 237 HIV strains. Broadly neutralizing antibodies are produced naturally in some 10 to 30 percent of people with HIV, but only after several years of infection. By that time the virus in their bodies has typically evolved to escape even these powerful antibodies. [B]However, by isolating and then cloning these antibodies, researchers are able to harness them as therapeutic agents against HIV infections that have had less time to prepare. Earlier work in the Nussenzweig lab had demonstrated that these potent antibodies could prevent or suppress infection in mouse and non-human primate models of HIV. But these animal models are very rough approximations of human infections, explains Caskey. The mice must be genetically engineered to be susceptible to HIV and therefore lack an intact immune system, and the primates used in HIV studies can only be infected with a simian version of the virus. The proof of principle awaited human trials.[/B][/QUOTE] [url]https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150408133040.htm?utm_source=TrendMD&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=ScienceDaily_TrendMD_0[/url] Great strides in new treatments of HIV. I'm really excited in how far this will be able to go.

What other advances were the result of HIV research? What lessons were learned?

[QUOTE=Guriosity;51733127]What other advances were the result of HIV research? What lessons were learned?[/QUOTE] Dude. Just take solace in the fact we've put a previously life-ending disease onto its knees.

[QUOTE=DOCTOR LIGHT;51733212]Dude. Just take solace in the fact we've put a previously life-ending disease onto its knees.[/QUOTE] I was curious. I know there are more knowledgeable people then me here and wanted to make a conversation interesting. HIV was difficult to deal with due to its ability to change rapidly. That's what I know and that was a first when it arrived on the scene. So makes me wonder what else was gained beside this victory?

[QUOTE=Guriosity;51733254]I was curious. I know there are more knowledgeable people then me here and wanted to make a conversation interesting.[/QUOTE] My bad. I'm used to someone I know who constantly questions and hates on HIV research because, in his words, "only gay people get it". Dude should just admit he's a homophobe. Sorry for evaluating you with him.

[QUOTE=DOCTOR LIGHT;51733267]My bad. I'm used to someone I know who constantly questions and hates on HIV research because, in his words, "only gay people get it". Dude should just admit he's a homophobe. Sorry for evaluating you with him.[/QUOTE] No when it comes to scientific topics, I like to learn from others!

Can't wait until HIV isn't really a problem anymore, not to mention those people that knowingly spread the disease on purpose like it's a fucking joke.

Hooray for science!

There is something bad ass about the name "elite controller" they use. Sounds like something out of a fantasy story of a powerful spellcaster or something.

[QUOTE=Guriosity;51733127]What other advances were the result of HIV research? What lessons were learned?[/QUOTE] Well, we got anti-viral drugs that mean you don't have to die from AIDS anymore. Sure, you're not cured but you don't die either.

I hope this will lead to further improvements and hopefully to a Nobel prize.

[QUOTE=DOCTOR LIGHT;51733267]My bad. I'm used to someone I know who constantly questions and hates on HIV research because, in his words, "only gay people get it". Dude should just admit he's a homophobe. Sorry for evaluating you with him.[/QUOTE] God, I'd want to punch his teeth so far in, his asshole would become his new mouth. I knew a chick who said I shared needles because I had hep c, and that I was a druggie, when in all honesty I have no real idea how I got it, and I've never done needle induced drugs in my life. but this is great to hear. It's like we finally made a dent in the enemy after years of war, and that feels good.