[LANMaster]

Novel Vaccine Activates HIV Immunity, Slows AIDS Virus
Monday, November 29, 2004
By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD

It worked in mice. It worked in monkeys. And now in humans, a therapeutic vaccine has stopped HIV in its tracks.

The vaccine is made from a patient's own dendritic cells (search) and HIV isolated from the patient's own blood. Dendritic cells are crucial to the immune response. They grab foreign bodies in the blood and present them to other immune cells to trigger powerful immune system responses to destroy the foreign invaders.

HIV infection normally turns these important immune system responses off. But animal studies show that when dendritic cells are "loaded" with whole, killed AIDS viruses, they can trigger effective immune responses that keep infected animals from dying of AIDS.

Wei Lu, Jean-Marie Andrieu, and colleagues at the University of Paris in France and Pernambuco Federal University in Recife, Brazil, tested the vaccine on 18 Brazilian patients. All had HIV infection for at least a year. Their T-cell counts — a crucial measure of AIDS progression — were dropping, meaning their disease was worsening. None was taking anti-HIV medications.

After getting three under-the-skin injections of the tailor-made vaccine, the amount of HIV in the patients' blood (called the viral load) dropped by 80 percent. After a year, eight of the 18 patients still had a 90 percent drop in HIV levels. All patients' T-cell counts stopped dropping.

The findings appear in the December issue of Nature Medicine.

"The results suggest that [these] vaccines could be a promising strategy for treating people with chronic HIV infection," Andrieu and colleagues write. "The significant decrease of viral load as well as maintenance of ... [T-]cell counts observed at one year after immunization are particularly promising."

The researchers warn that their study is only proof of principle. It's still not clear which patients do best with the vaccine, although there's evidence that vaccination should be given as soon after HIV infection as possible. Only clinical trials comparing people who get the vaccine to those who don't can show whether this vaccine really is an effective AIDS therapy.

Similar approaches are being explored for the treatment of cancer and long-term viral infections such as hepatitis C.

link

Great news

[Ciberblade]

_

[angelize56]

Originally Posted by LANMaster

The researchers warn that their study is only proof of principle. It's still not clear which patients do best with the vaccine, although there's evidence that vaccination should be given as soon after HIV infection as possible. Only clinical trials comparing people who get the vaccine to those who don't can show whether this vaccine really is an effective AIDS therapy.

I worry when they include tidbits like these. I do hope it's true though about the vaccine working...it's a step in the right direction for a virus that is infecting and killing so many people world-wide.

[LANMaster]

Hi Angel,

They care calling this a vaccine. I think it is only for people who have been diagnosed with HIV in an attempt to prevent AIDS.

It is a start. I can guarantee you that nobody's gonna be injecting me with an AIDS "vaccine" until it can be proven safe over time.
I intend to remain HIV negative. I'd be scared to death to take a HIV preventative vaccination.

[angelize56]

Hi Mike! I'd definitely not be a guinea pig for that vaccine! I agree with you there! I intend to remain HIV- too!

[rmay635703]

http://www.truehealth.org/ahealn14.html

Dig out the hyssop, selenium, frankensence, myrr and coconuts

[angelize56]

^ What luck! I have them all in my spice cabinet!

[rmay635703]

Too bad they need to be concentrated oils to work well, but they still are available in oil form at the health food stores.

[angelize56]

I was kidding anyways!

[LuckyStrike]

Originally Posted by rmay635703

http://www.truehealth.org/ahealn14.html

Dig out the hyssop, selenium, frankensence, myrr and coconuts

Be careful with the selenium, high levels cause birth defects.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by LuckyStrike

Be careful with the selenium, high levels cause birth defects.

I would hope that people with aids would not be looking to get pregnant

Anyway...

Yep, just like VERY high levels of anything, it is of note that very low levels when combined with low folic intake make the likelyhood of Spina bifida increase by about 3x as compared to just a low intake of folic. And non existant intakes of selenium are related to brain problems in babies.

Like everything too little or too much is gonna cause problems. Kind of like drinking 5 gallons of water a day.

[linskyjack]

Thats great news!!!!!!!!!!

[cadaver queen]

Slows...yes... but which strain of the disease.. ?????????


Yes.. antiviralsare effective in the short term but show me the low term effects beyond 3 years of clinical research that demonstrates it's effectiveness as well as the company fiancials ...in other words ... Are they looking to go public??? Or is there a grant in to NIH for funding???Sorry ...Callme cynical ... been down this road before...

[valley]

Hi Shea

Good to see you're still alive.

[bassetman]

Originally Posted by rmay635703

http://www.truehealth.org/ahealn14.html

Dig out the hyssop, selenium, frankensence, myrr and coconuts