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New Breakthroughs in HIV Research
by : Anne Roberts
Date : Fri, 29 Jun 2007 09:12:00 GMT
Finally, there appear to be not one, but two breakthroughs in research that could bring hope to the over 40 million HIV sufferers all over the world. lt;br / gt;
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German Scientist in Dresden claim in Science magazine to have found a way of removing the HIV virus from infected cells. lt;br / gt;
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They sate that they have wheedled an enzyme called Tre into damaging the DNA of the HIV virus and removing it from the contaminated cell. This enzyme is said to have done just this in about three months in their laboratory. lt;br / gt;
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Although in its infancy and as yet not ready for use it could be the light at the end of the tunnel for over 40 million infected people all over the world. lt;br / gt;
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From the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard University, Alan Engelman wrote in a supplement to the study, 'A customized enzyme that effectively excises integrated HIV-1 from infected cells in vitro might one day help to eradicate (the) virus from AIDS patients. ' lt;br / gt;
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In yet another study, scientists questioned the common belief that HIV attacks the immune system by causing the gradual reduction of the robust white T cells in the blood. These are the cells which should normally identify infections thereby causing the body to attack and subdue them, but now die out, albeit not before producing the virus elements. lt;br / gt;
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This cyclical series of HIV creation, re infection and cell damage is known as the 'runaway ' hypothesis. Now American and British scientists at reject this, claiming that such a cycle would have caused the cells to be annihilated at a greater rate. lt;br / gt;
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With the help of a simple mathematical model, the researchers demonstrated that if things went according to the 'runaway model ' it would only be a matter of months, and not years, before the body 's healthy T cells would all be eliminated. lt;br / gt;
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They stated in the journal Plos Magazine that a "slow process must be active " for the complete destruction of the T cells to take place. lt;br / gt;
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According to their conclusions the identification of this process "will provide a key insight into the nature of HIV disease and indicate potential new approaches to therapy. " lt;br / gt;
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The researchers state that one of the reasons given for the slow process is that the virus gradually adapts itself during the infection. lt;br / gt;
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Doctor Andrew Yates from in Atlanta, Georgia 's Emory University, who is also the lead author states, "The virus is constantly mutating and there may be selection, in a Darwinian sense, over time for 'fitter ' mutants of the virus in an infected person. " lt;br / gt;
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He continues, "There are several ways the virus could become fitter, for example by being able to infect new cells more readily, or by infected cells producing more new virus, or producing it more rapidly, " lt;br / gt;
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Finally he concludes that the virus adaptation hypothesis 'requires a lot more experimental investigation, however, and is only a tentative conclusion. "
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