Science HIV vaccine successful in monkeys, waits for human trials - Page 2

Mr. Laz · 02-19-2015, 04:52 PM

New Approach to Blocking H.I.V. Raises Hopes for an AIDS Vaccine
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.FEB. 18, 2015
Photo

Michael Farzan, the lead author of a new study, described a compound as a “potent entry inhibitor” against H.I.V. Credit Benjamin Rusnak for The New York Times

A new compound has blocked H.I.V. infection so well in monkeys that it may be able to function as a vaccine against AIDS, the scientists who designed it reported Wednesday.

H.I.V. has defied more than 30 years of conventional efforts to fashion a vaccine. The new method stimulates muscle cells to produce proteins that somewhat resemble normal antibodies, which have Y-shaped heads. These proteins have both a head and a tail, and they use them to simultaneously block two sites on each “spike” that the virus uses to attach itself to a cell.

If both sites can be blocked on every spike, the virus becomes helpless and drifts off unattached into eventual oblivion by the immune system.

“It’s a twofer,” said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which supported the work. “It’s very impressive, and the method is quite promising. But it’s still just in an animal model, so we’ll need to see evidence of whether it works in humans.”

The technique, the paper’s lead author said, has now completely protected four monkeys for nearly a year against repeated attempts to infect them with large doses of several strains of S.H.I.V., a version of H.I.V. adapted for use in lab monkeys.

The author, Michael Farzan, an infectious disease specialist at the Scripps Research Institute in Florida, described the new compound as “the broadest and most potent entry inhibitor described so far.”

It is simpler and works better, he said, than the current method that scientists are experimenting with: giving monkeys cocktails of several different antibodies that each neutralize only one or two strains of H.I.V., sometimes imperfectly.

The study was published online by the journal Nature.

Describing over the telephone the way his new compound worked, Dr. Farzan said he was bending his hand into a claw, with his thumb representing the end blocking one site and two fingers blocking the other.

“One of my colleagues told me it’s the grip for a two-seam cut fastball,” he said.

The work was led by scientists at his institute but involved researchers from Harvard, Princeton, Rockefeller University, the University of Southern California, the Pasteur Institute in France and elsewhere.

The next step, Dr. Farzan said, will be to test the compound in infected monkeys and see if it can stop the virus from replicating further, which is what antiretroviral medicines do. If that proves safe and effective, he said, he hopes to start human trials in three stages.

In the first, humans would be injected every few weeks with just the antibody-like protein, not with the vector that stimulates muscle cells to produce it. If that were successful, the vector would be injected into humans who already have H.I.V. but are not taking antiretroviral pills because they refuse, forget or experience bad side effects.

Finally, the compound would be given to healthy people at high risk — such as gay men who have frequent unprotected sex with strangers — to see if it protects them.

The new approach uses cutting-edge techniques that are not widely known, or even entirely understood, by the scientists experimenting with them.

Historically, vaccines have been made by killing or weakening whole viruses and injecting them; that stimulates the immune system to produce antibodies that recognize and attack the real virus when it arrives.

Newer vaccines splice genes for particular antibodies into other weakened viruses. Generally, the genes are carried into a cell by the virus, incorporated into the cell’s genome, and begin producing the necessary antibodies.

But this new method splices the desired gene into a stretch of DNA so short that it cannot function like a virus at all and does not deserve to be called one, Dr. Farzan said, who refers to it simply as “a gene therapy vector.” It does not integrate itself into the DNA of a cell or replicate itself. (Yet it is sometimes called an A.A.V., short for “adeno-associated virus,” even though that causes confusion, said Dr. Farzan.)

Nonetheless, injecting that vector into muscle stimulates cells to produce the antibody-like protein encoded by the gene.

“Why? We’re not really able to answer that question,” Dr. Farzan said. “But it does.”

H.I.V. normally targets CD4 cells, white blood cells that act as the sentinels of the immune system.

The virus invades them by attaching its outer spikes — known as envelope proteins — to two different receptors on the outside of the cell. First it attaches to the CD4 receptor; that exposes the CCR5 receptor. Once attached to both, the virus can inject its RNA into the cell and hijack its inner machinery to produce more virus.

But the protein produced by Dr. Farzan, bent into its claw shape, blocks both the CD4-binding site and the CCR5-binding site. It does so in a very tight “match” difficult for the virus to block by means of “escape mutations” — changes in shape that partly prevent engineered antibodies from attaching.

“It fools the virus into thinking it’s interacting with a cell,” Dr. Farzan said.

Dr. Philip R. Johnson, director of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute and the inventor of the vector that Dr. Farzan used, called the new approach “good stuff.”

“It appears to be as good as, if not better than, anything else that’s being tried,” he said.

Eventually, he said, he would like to see an approach that combined known antibodies and the new protein “so we could target two or three areas on the virus.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/19/he...cine.html?_r=0

**hometeam** · 02-19-2015, 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sofa King

King of the fistyshop is using a gif with that terrible quality?!!?

no no no my friend!

**Lzen** · 02-19-2015, 06:41 PM

Successful in monkeys? Anyone else see the irony (if that's the correct term here)?

Fish · 02-19-2015, 06:43 PM

Yeah! We can have sex with monkeys again!!

That's what this means right? Wait..

**loochy** · 02-19-2015, 06:50 PM

Ask bigdaddy if this vaccine is acceptable

**Rain Man** · 02-19-2015, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Why Not?

Yeah. Die in a measles fire just doesn't have quite the same ring to it

Throw yourself into a burning rubella bush?

Go mumps yourself?

Dive into a bucket of schistosomiasis?

George Liquor · 02-19-2015, 07:04 PM

Aids is so 80's....

aturnis · 02-19-2015, 07:57 PM

All that sweet African poon about to be reintroduced to the market!

Mr_Tomahawk · 02-19-2015, 08:42 PM

Q

/Earvin Johnson

-King- · 02-19-2015, 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Numbah One

One day there will be a super-vaccine for every STD in creation that also acts as birth control, and we can all rawdog creampies 24/7.

That's the kind of world I want to live in.
Posted via Mobile Device

Eleazar · 02-19-2015, 09:34 PM

It would be good in Africa and other places in the world to move towards eradication of the disease. But the reality is that if you are straight and don't use needle drugs your chances of getting aids are near zero.

Why Not? · 02-20-2015, 01:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Throw yourself into a burning rubella bush?

This is the leader in the clubhouse for new disease death barb.

**DaneMcCloud** · 02-20-2015, 01:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cochise

It would be good in Africa and other places in the world to move towards eradication of the disease.

Not trying to be tasteless, but the eradication of AIDS in Africa will lead to many more issues, as the continent is a disaster. This will lead to further poverty, further government issues and a lower quality of life for the living.

I think people in America often forget or are not even aware that their quality of life is outstanding and pretty much unparalleled in the history of the world.

**ShortRoundChief** · 02-20-2015, 05:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BDj23

Aids is so 80's....

80's------Aidsy's

hmmmmm

**Mr. Flopnuts** · 02-20-2015, 06:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rain Man

A successful vaccine would be a huge boon to the prostitution industry.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hootie 2.0

Yes !!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Numbah One

But what about the herp?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hootie 2.0

We were so close!

stumppy · 02-20-2015, 06:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Not trying to be tasteless, but the eradication of AIDS in Africa will lead to many more issues, as the continent is a disaster. This will lead to further poverty, further government issues and a lower quality of life for the living.

I think people in America often forget or are not even aware that their quality of life is outstanding and pretty much unparalleled in the history of the world.

Providing clean water for everyone there would save a hell of a lot more lives than an AIDS vaccine.

02-19-2015, 04:52 PM
Mr. Laz Don't Tease Me Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: KS Casino cash: $11047037	HIV vaccine successful in monkeys, waits for human trials New Approach to Blocking H.I.V. Raises Hopes for an AIDS Vaccine By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.FEB. 18, 2015 Photo Michael Farzan, the lead author of a new study, described a compound as a “potent entry inhibitor” against H.I.V. Credit Benjamin Rusnak for The New York Times A new compound has blocked H.I.V. infection so well in monkeys that it may be able to function as a vaccine against AIDS, the scientists who designed it reported Wednesday. H.I.V. has defied more than 30 years of conventional efforts to fashion a vaccine. The new method stimulates muscle cells to produce proteins that somewhat resemble normal antibodies, which have Y-shaped heads. These proteins have both a head and a tail, and they use them to simultaneously block two sites on each “spike” that the virus uses to attach itself to a cell. If both sites can be blocked on every spike, the virus becomes helpless and drifts off unattached into eventual oblivion by the immune system. “It’s a twofer,” said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which supported the work. “It’s very impressive, and the method is quite promising. But it’s still just in an animal model, so we’ll need to see evidence of whether it works in humans.” The technique, the paper’s lead author said, has now completely protected four monkeys for nearly a year against repeated attempts to infect them with large doses of several strains of S.H.I.V., a version of H.I.V. adapted for use in lab monkeys. The author, Michael Farzan, an infectious disease specialist at the Scripps Research Institute in Florida, described the new compound as “the broadest and most potent entry inhibitor described so far.” It is simpler and works better, he said, than the current method that scientists are experimenting with: giving monkeys cocktails of several different antibodies that each neutralize only one or two strains of H.I.V., sometimes imperfectly. The study was published online by the journal Nature. Describing over the telephone the way his new compound worked, Dr. Farzan said he was bending his hand into a claw, with his thumb representing the end blocking one site and two fingers blocking the other. “One of my colleagues told me it’s the grip for a two-seam cut fastball,” he said. The work was led by scientists at his institute but involved researchers from Harvard, Princeton, Rockefeller University, the University of Southern California, the Pasteur Institute in France and elsewhere. The next step, Dr. Farzan said, will be to test the compound in infected monkeys and see if it can stop the virus from replicating further, which is what antiretroviral medicines do. If that proves safe and effective, he said, he hopes to start human trials in three stages. In the first, humans would be injected every few weeks with just the antibody-like protein, not with the vector that stimulates muscle cells to produce it. If that were successful, the vector would be injected into humans who already have H.I.V. but are not taking antiretroviral pills because they refuse, forget or experience bad side effects. Finally, the compound would be given to healthy people at high risk — such as gay men who have frequent unprotected sex with strangers — to see if it protects them. The new approach uses cutting-edge techniques that are not widely known, or even entirely understood, by the scientists experimenting with them. Historically, vaccines have been made by killing or weakening whole viruses and injecting them; that stimulates the immune system to produce antibodies that recognize and attack the real virus when it arrives. Newer vaccines splice genes for particular antibodies into other weakened viruses. Generally, the genes are carried into a cell by the virus, incorporated into the cell’s genome, and begin producing the necessary antibodies. But this new method splices the desired gene into a stretch of DNA so short that it cannot function like a virus at all and does not deserve to be called one, Dr. Farzan said, who refers to it simply as “a gene therapy vector.” It does not integrate itself into the DNA of a cell or replicate itself. (Yet it is sometimes called an A.A.V., short for “adeno-associated virus,” even though that causes confusion, said Dr. Farzan.) Nonetheless, injecting that vector into muscle stimulates cells to produce the antibody-like protein encoded by the gene. “Why? We’re not really able to answer that question,” Dr. Farzan said. “But it does.” H.I.V. normally targets CD4 cells, white blood cells that act as the sentinels of the immune system. The virus invades them by attaching its outer spikes — known as envelope proteins — to two different receptors on the outside of the cell. First it attaches to the CD4 receptor; that exposes the CCR5 receptor. Once attached to both, the virus can inject its RNA into the cell and hijack its inner machinery to produce more virus. But the protein produced by Dr. Farzan, bent into its claw shape, blocks both the CD4-binding site and the CCR5-binding site. It does so in a very tight “match” difficult for the virus to block by means of “escape mutations” — changes in shape that partly prevent engineered antibodies from attaching. “It fools the virus into thinking it’s interacting with a cell,” Dr. Farzan said. Dr. Philip R. Johnson, director of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute and the inventor of the vector that Dr. Farzan used, called the new approach “good stuff.” “It appears to be as good as, if not better than, anything else that’s being tried,” he said. Eventually, he said, he would like to see an approach that combined known antibodies and the new protein “so we could target two or three areas on the virus.” http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/19/he...cine.html?_r=0
Posts: 95,626

02-19-2015, 06:41 PM	#17
Lzen Banded Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Oz Casino cash: $-569308	Successful in monkeys? Anyone else see the irony (if that's the correct term here)? __________________ Conversation would be vastly improved by the constant use of four simple words: I do not know.
Posts: 42,470

02-19-2015, 06:43 PM	#18
Fish Ain't no relax! Join Date: Sep 2005 Casino cash: $-1311081	Yeah! We can have sex with monkeys again!! That's what this means right? Wait.. __________________
Posts: 48,828

02-19-2015, 06:50 PM	#19
loochy Hey Loochy, I'm hooome! Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: PooPooKaKaPeePeeShire Casino cash: $-1619603	Ask bigdaddy if this vaccine is acceptable __________________ Hey Loochy, I'm hoooome!
Posts: 42,087

02-19-2015, 07:04 PM	#21
George Liquor Forklift Certified Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: House of the Rising Sun Casino cash: $-830150	Aids is so 80's....
Posts: 18,532

02-19-2015, 07:57 PM	#22
aturnis MVP Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Iowa Casino cash: $9975811	All that sweet African poon about to be reintroduced to the market!
Posts: 13,873

02-19-2015, 08:42 PM	#23
Mr_Tomahawk Prestige Worldwide Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Spring Hill, KS Casino cash: $-59474	Q /Earvin Johnson __________________ Adopt-A-Chief: John Dorsey
Posts: 18,619

02-19-2015, 09:34 PM	#25
Eleazar Beyond the Rapids Join Date: May 2003 Location: Langley, VA Casino cash: $-370000	It would be good in Africa and other places in the world to move towards eradication of the disease. But the reality is that if you are straight and don't use needle drugs your chances of getting aids are near zero.
Posts: 80,659