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Hooray.
Doctors may have found a way to destroy HIV
HOUSTON -- There is real hope that what’s happening in a Houston lab might lead to a cure for HIV.
“We have found an innovative way to kill the virus by finding this small region of HIV that is unchangeable,” Dr. Sudhir Paul of the University of Texas Medical School at Houston said.
Dr. Paul and Dr. Miguel Escobar aren’t talking about just suppressing HIV – they’re talking about destroying it permanently by arming the immune system with a new weapon lab tests have shown to be effective.
Ford Stuart has been HIV positive for 15 years. He’s on a powerful drug tail that keeps the disease in check.
“I’m on four different medications. Three of them are brand new, and it’s the first time that I’ve ever been non-detectible,” Stuart said. “I’m down to about – just for the HIV – about nine pills per day, five in the morning and four at night.”
But Stuart knows HIV mutates, and eventually it will learn how to outsmart his medications.
“The virus is truly complex and has many tricks up its sleeve,” Paul said.
But Dr. Paul thinks he’s cracked a code.
“We’ve discovered the weak spot of HIV,” he said.
Paul and his team have zeroed in on a section of a key protein in HIV’s structure that does not mutate.
“The virus needs at least one constant region, and that is the essence of calling it the Achilles heel,” Paul said.
That Achilles heel is the doctors’ way in. They take advantage of it with something called an abzyme.
It’s naturally produced by people, like lupus patients. When they applied that abzyme to the HIV virus, it permanently disarmed it.
“What we already have in our hand are the abzymes that we could be infusing into the human subjects with HIV infection, essentially to move the virus,” Paul said.
Basically, their idea could be used to control the disease for people who already have it and prevent infection for those at risk.
The theory has held up in lab and animal testing. The next step is human trials.
Meanwhile, every day in Houston, three people are diagnosed with HIV.
The doctors still need funding to launch human trials. In the world of HIV research, that’s often where things fall apart.
“Clinical trials are very expensive,” Paul said.
“That is the worry of the researcher. This is what nightmares are made of – that after 30 years of work, you find it doesn’t work,” Paul said.
But so far, it is working.
“This is the holy grail of HIV research, to develop a preventative vaccine,” Paul said.
“If we can get the viral loads down to a manageable level, that will preclude the need for these conventional drugs,” Escobar said.
Still, even if everything goes well, it’s at least five years before the research could help people with HIV.
The doctors know people like Ford Stuart are waiting.
“There are so many people struggling with the disease because it affects not only your body, but also your psyche, how you perceive yourself,” he said.
If nothing else, the research is promising for the tens of millions waiting for a cure.
http://www.fox11az.com/news/topstori....1971ecbd.html
Hooray.
*waits for someone to say "it won't happen, pharmaceutical companies won't let hundreds of millions not go toward them after this" *
Pretty amazing if they have found stuff like this for Alzheimers and HIV.
it would be awesome if one day HIV was treated and repaired the same as the FLU.
Dude, that reminded me of Chris Rock's stand up.
"Hey, I'm not going to be coming in to work today. I got a little bit of the AIDS."
This just shows what can be done when money is spent on what we should be spending it on.
The US has been spending BILLIONS on this for decades now.
You act like one day the president was like "eh throw the doctors a couple bucks tword that, that needs fixing"
I hear they're on the cusp for cancer as well down at MD Anderson. Next ten years could be BIG.
That would be pretty freaking sweet.
If this did come about, what are the chances some noobs go out there screwing around saying "hey, what the , they've got the cure, why not?"
They already have a cure for HIV. Its called a condom!
Now, they need to focus their attention on cigarettes so I can smoke.
We need to spend billions more on it.
I'd much rather spend hundreds of billions of dollars on this than hundreds of billions of dollars protecting oil interests on the other side of the world.
I think HIV is good for the human race. It weeds out the weak.
just discovered? the cure for AIDS has been around for years. if you've got the money or the status, you get the cure. if not, tough .
wait till it mutates - SUPER HIV!
I'm waiting for the airborne strain.
hey, what the , they've got the cure, why not go screwing
Yeah, those idiots who didn't wear condoms while they were getting blood transfusions really deserve what they get.They already have a cure for HIV. Its called a condom!
Now, they need to focus their attention on cigarettes so I can smoke.
Hey, if my lupus can help HIV positive people then they can take my blood anytime. But i'm curious, will this cause the HIV positive patients to develop lupus?
Kinda like kids going out there screwing around saying "hey, what the , they've got condoms and birth control pills, why not duuuuuuuuuuuude?"
Good question.
I wish I had the answer.
My feeling is no.
They've probably found a way to neutralize the lupus threat.
But, I'm not a health science expert.
Also, LMAO @ the abstinence movement trying to claim condoms aren't effective against HIV. ers.
before you guys go rawdoggin on anything that moves, u should know that news like this come out about every 6 months or so...
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