AIDS VACCINE MAY SEE LIGHT OF THE DAY SOON-SO AIDS PATIENTS CHEER UP
- Due to recent developments, French AIDS researchers are hoping that a vaccine could be developed using knowledge about the small number of HIV patients who manage to resist the virus without treatment over a long time.
- According to Jean-Francois Delfraissy, head of France's national Aids research agency, "There is a minority of patients, less than one percent, who have found in their immune system the capacity for a robust anti-viral response, which is exactly what you'd expect from a vaccine,".
- Delfraissy and other AIDS researchers have been studying how some HIV carriers manage to control the virus. In their findings, which have been published in US publication Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they reveal how some immune cells, called CD8 cells, are able to prevent the spreading of an HIV infection in a small number of patients.
- According to the report, the patients remain HIV-positive because they continue to produce antibodies against HIV, but the infection is otherwise untraceable, and no treatment is required.
- According to the researchers, the crucial role of CD8 cells could lead to the development of a vaccine for those patients, a large majority, whose immune system cannot spontaneously activate their powerful anti-HIV potential.
- HIV has proven to be the most unconquerable foe vaccine designers have ever faced but there is hope that very soon there will be the development of a vaccine that will help conquer the foe once and for all.
- A couple of months ago, some researchers in the U.S claimed they had taken a tiny snapshot of a key location on the tip of the HIV virus's docking spike that is stable and not mutating - in other words, a fixed target, which could be the weak point of the virus.
- According to the researchers, the spike was recognized by a specific antibody, called b12, this is found in the blood of people who are able to hold the virus at bay for long periods.
DISCLAIMER
The information provided on the blog is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her physician. All requests, email addresses, contact information, names, personal or medical data will be kept in confidence and will not be shared with third parties. The blog has been created by a doctor with an aim to spread relevant information about AIDS so that no body gets AIDS/HIV by virtue of his ignorance.
