Scientists have developed synthetic molecules that could boost our immunity against HIV and HIV-infected cells as well as prostate cancer cells.
Their findings potentially open the way to novel therapeutic approaches for the treatment of these diseases.
HIV is a global pandemic that affects 33 million people worldwide, while prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death among American males.
These molecules, called "antibody-recruiting molecule targeting HIV" (ARM-H) and "antibody-recruiting molecule targeting prostate cancer" (ARM-P), bind simultaneously to an antibody present in the blood and to proteins on HIV, HIV-infected cells or cancer cells.
By coating these pathogens in antibodies, the molecules flag them as a threat and trigger the body's own immune response.
In the case of ARM-H, by binding to proteins on the outside of the virus, they also prevent healthy human cells from being infected.
"Instead of trying to kill the pathogens directly, these molecules manipulate our immune system to do something it wouldn't ordinarily do," said David Spiegel, professor of chemistry at Yale University and study co-author.
Because both HIV and cancer have methods for evading the body's immune system, treatments and vaccinations for the two diseases have proven difficult.
Current options for HIV and prostate cancer, including antiviral drugs, radiation and chemotherapy, involve severe side-effects and are often ineffective against advanced cases.
Conversely, ARM-H and ARM-P molecules, which the team has begun testing in mice, are structurally simple, inexpensive to produce, and could in theory be taken in pill form, Spiegel said.
"This is an entirely new approach to treating these two diseases, which are extraordinarily important in terms of their impact on human health," Spiegel said.
These finding were published online in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Showing posts with label HIV disease. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HIV disease. Show all posts
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Tea May Offer Treatment to Fight HIV
Japanese researchers said they had discovered a molecule in tea that could block the spread of the AIDS virus.
The lab findings could offer a novel way to combat the HIV infection by preventing the virus from spreading throughout the body, scientists said. Current treatments that target HIV fight the infection after it has spread.
Scientists at the University of Tokyo, led by Kuzushige Kawai, found a compound called epigallocatechin gallate or EGCG, the element believed to contain most of the health benefits found in green tea, rapidly attaches to the doorways that the AIDS virus uses to invade cells.
HIV prefers to infect cells called CD4 T-cells, and uses a molecular doorway called the CD4 receptor to do so.
By bonding with the CD4 molecule first, EGCG effectively prevents the HIV virus from attaching -- at least in lab dishes.
"This potentially opens up an avenue for preventing HIV infections," said Dr. William Shearer, a professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, who wrote an editorial that accompanied the study. "Is there something here that mother nature is trying to tell us?"
Writing in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the researchers said they are still looking to explain why EGCG is attracted to CD4 molecule, in the hope of making it work even better.
Earlier studies have showed that people who drink a lot of tea have lower rates of cancer, heart disease and rheumatoid arthritis. In September, the U.S. Department of Agriculture found people who drank black tea saw their cholesterol drop between 7 and 11 percent.
Simply drinking tea would probably not be enough to prevent HIV infection, Shearer said. If EGCG is shown to work in a living animal, it would have to be concentrated, perhaps in a pill.
The lab study found that EGCG attached to 80 percent of CD4 receptors after five minutes and to virtually all of them after 30 minutes.
The popularity of tea has soared during the last decade.
According to the Tea Association of the United States, total sales of tea in 2002 were $5.03 billion, up from $1.84 billion in 1990.
The lab findings could offer a novel way to combat the HIV infection by preventing the virus from spreading throughout the body, scientists said. Current treatments that target HIV fight the infection after it has spread.
Scientists at the University of Tokyo, led by Kuzushige Kawai, found a compound called epigallocatechin gallate or EGCG, the element believed to contain most of the health benefits found in green tea, rapidly attaches to the doorways that the AIDS virus uses to invade cells.
HIV prefers to infect cells called CD4 T-cells, and uses a molecular doorway called the CD4 receptor to do so.
By bonding with the CD4 molecule first, EGCG effectively prevents the HIV virus from attaching -- at least in lab dishes.
"This potentially opens up an avenue for preventing HIV infections," said Dr. William Shearer, a professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, who wrote an editorial that accompanied the study. "Is there something here that mother nature is trying to tell us?"
Writing in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the researchers said they are still looking to explain why EGCG is attracted to CD4 molecule, in the hope of making it work even better.
Earlier studies have showed that people who drink a lot of tea have lower rates of cancer, heart disease and rheumatoid arthritis. In September, the U.S. Department of Agriculture found people who drank black tea saw their cholesterol drop between 7 and 11 percent.
Simply drinking tea would probably not be enough to prevent HIV infection, Shearer said. If EGCG is shown to work in a living animal, it would have to be concentrated, perhaps in a pill.
The lab study found that EGCG attached to 80 percent of CD4 receptors after five minutes and to virtually all of them after 30 minutes.
The popularity of tea has soared during the last decade.
According to the Tea Association of the United States, total sales of tea in 2002 were $5.03 billion, up from $1.84 billion in 1990.
