AIDS virus weakness detected (Reuters)

[Up2Late]

(This is a cross-post of my LBN post at this link: <http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2731264&mesg_id=2731264>
This sounds like GREAT News to me! And to all those here who have already lost loved ones to AIDS, I feel your pain. I lost my Best Friend to AIDS July 15, 2006.
R.I.P. Randy.)

AIDS virus weakness detected

Wed Feb 14, 2007 4:19PM EST

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scientists have captured an image of the AIDS virus in a biological handshake with the immune cells it attacks, and said on Wednesday they hope this can help lead to a better vaccine against the incurable disease.

They pinpointed a place on the outside of the human immunodeficiency virus that could be vulnerable to antibodies that could block it from infecting human cells.

U.S. National Institutes of Health researcher Peter Kwong said the study, published in the journal Nature, may reveal HIV's long-sought "site of vulnerability" that can be targeted with a vaccine aimed at preventing initial infection.

"Having that site and knowing that you can make antibodies against it means that a vaccine is possible," Kwong said in a telephone interview. "It doesn't say we've gotten there. But it's taken it off the list from an impossible dream and converted it to something that is a (mere) technical barrier."

(more at link) <http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1438308620070214?src=021407_1609_ARTICLE_PROMO_also_on_reuters>

[xchrom]

1. yeah!!

i love good news in this arena!

after all the nightmares about vaccines around here -- i can't IMAGINE what people will say if and when there is a vaccine for this.

[keepCAblue]

2. A cure close at hand? Wish that it were ...

As anyone who works with this virus knows, it is a master of mutation. No sooner do they find a blocking antibody or suicide inhibitor of one or another membrane marker, than does the virus mutate again. Some HIV+ individuals have been found to have multiple serotypes (i.e., more than one mutated form of the virus), making therapeutic drug choices difficult and often ineffective. Still, any hope offered is hope to cling to. Perhaps this particular envelope marker will prove to be coded by a gene or genes less prone to mutation.

I, like most everyone, have also lost someone near and dear to AIDS/HIV. January 17th marked the 13th anniversary of his untimely passing. I miss him as much today as I ever did. In his and others' memory, my partner will be riding in the AIDS/LifeCycle 6 San Francisco to Los Angeles ride, to raise money and awareness. 25 years and still no cure...

AIDS/LifeCycle 6 - June 3-9, 2007

My partner's AIDS/LifeCycle sponsorship page:

http://www.aidslifecycle.org/4692

[Up2Late]

3. Never give up hope, this breakthrough sounds very promising. Here's more from BBC News

Thursday, 15 February 2007, 00:00 GMT

Scientists expose HIV weak spot

Scientists have shown what happens when an infection-fighting antibody attacks a gap in HIV's formidable defences.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases-led team say the work could aid HIV vaccine development. They have published an atomic-level image in Nature showing the antibody, b12, attacking part of a protein on surface of the virus.

HIV avoids attack by constantly mutating, but this protein segment is a weak spot because it remains stable.

Dr Elias Zerhouni, director of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), said: "Creating an HIV vaccine is one of the great scientific challenges of our time. "NIH researchers and their colleagues have revealed a gap in HIV's armour and have thereby opened a new avenue to meeting that challenge."

(more at link) <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6357287.stm>

[keepCAblue]

4. Passing this on. Thank you!

:woohoo:

[aquart]

5. Good news that makes me so sad.

For such good people who weren't able to hang on till a cure.

For the ones who will still be lost while we wait.

[mitchtv]

6. Ojala ! Please hurry with a vaccine

A whole generation is gone. Many, many of my contemporaries didn't make it to this new century.