Potential New Vaccine Blocks Every Strain Of HIV

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.”

While traditional vaccines work by delivering a tiny, weakened dose of a virus to train your immune system to thwart an actual attack, this drug does something quite different. The way HIV infects a person is by targeting their T lymphocytes - a very specialised type of white blood cell - and injecting its own genetic material inside to transform them into HIV-producing machines. So, quite literally, it turns our immune systems against us.

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.”

Whelp I suppose this is good news , As I continued to read I found that this "Vaccine" as of now protected Lab monkeys for up to 34 months , but "they" feel they will be able to extend this protection in time .

My question is what the effect on people who are already Infected ?

The Critical Thinking side of me smells a racket in the works , you know big Pharma payout on the Horizon.

Thoughts ?

Kap

Interesting. and yeah, I have the same wonder....is this also a cure to those that already have it? If they have found immunity, a cure can't be that far off....but likely "put off" simply to make that extra buck saying it only works for a couple years then you have to get it again....

a reply to: Kapusta

Can you put up a link please?

Thanks in advance

originally posted by: Vasa Croe
Interesting. and yeah, I have the same wonder....is this also a cure to those that already have it? If they have found immunity, a cure can't be that far off....but likely "put off" simply to make that extra buck saying it only works for a couple years then you have to get it again....

there is no cure . there are some people who have some sort of "chromosome deletion" to which i'll address later .

in HAART medical regimen , life expectancy has increased by several folds . HIV+ people now live fore more than 15-20 years with no problem . and of course you know what i mean from "no problem" here .

CD4+ cell count is higher than ever thanks to this medical regimen .

those people who have "immunity" are not actually immune . HIV detects some special antigens to verify its target - a special kind of white cell which is extremely essential to immune system .

of these antigens are CD4 and some other co-receptors . now here is the issue :

those who have "immunity" have some sort of Chorosomal defect which has led to deletion of some of those co-receptors .

now HIV gets confused . it cannot effectively attach itself to the host target . viremia exists in these people , but it can never kill them .

NOTE : I wanted to add some information for those who are interested :

retroviral infections are like a war : a war in which your enemy is the master of deception . but interesting enough , immune system is still so effective that it kills the shizzam out of those viruses . not always enough .

www.khq.com... is this the link the op was talking about?

originally posted by: SecretKnowledge
a reply to: Kapusta

Can you put up a link please?

Thanks in advance

yep

sorry was i was headed out the door and posted to quickly .

LINK

What is that going to the immune systems ability to fight other viruses though if you were to take the vaccine. Is it going to make it work better or worse, or is it going to increase inflammation in the body.

Too many unaddressed questions to answer on this possible vaccine.

originally posted by: Vasa Croe
Interesting. and yeah, I have the same wonder....is this also a cure to those that already have it? If they have found immunity, a cure can't be that far off....but likely "put off" simply to make that extra buck saying it only works for a couple years then you have to get it again....

No because once infected the HIV virus hides itself in reservoirs. So this will almost certainly not be a cure. But it could prevent someone from being contagious I imagine.