Scientists are finding the cure to stop a virus that has killed more than 25 million people. Research at the Lab targeting the immune response to HIV and viral mutation might stop the pathogen that causes AIDS.
Although current Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) treatment hinders the infection rate and delays death, there is no HIV vaccine or cure available for the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). The United Nations estimates 14 million children have been orphaned by this disease, and 40,000 Americans will likely become infected this year.
LANL researcher Bette Korber and her team are solving challenging problems regarding HIV evolution and transmission and, importantly, how the human immune system reacts to the virus. Korber's team is designing three vaccines to target this rapidly mutating virus. Animal tests are underway, with promising results and human trials will begin soon. These vaccines might finally deal a lethal blow to the AIDS virus.
"HIV expands and contracts like an accordion," Korber, recipient of acclaimed awards, told an audience during a Los Alamos lecture. "The mystery is why we can't clear it with our immune response."
The HIV virus's mechanisms make it extraordinarily good at avoiding triggering an immune response, making it nearly impossible to fight the infection. Korber's team's vaccine model is based on a mixture of synthetic proteins that address the virus's evasive nature. Not only does the HIV-1 virus mutate quickly, increasing its drug resistance, but its evolution affects the virus's sequence. The virus is also protected by a cloak of sugar molecules that prevents antibodies from blocking the HIV proteins used to invade the cell.
In mid-October, nine hundred experts convened at the international AIDS vaccine conference in South Africa. Doubts were expressed about whether a vaccine is on the horizon. "Fundamentally we don't understand enough about the human immune system and we don't know how the immune system deals with HIV," said Lynn Morris, conference co-chair.
Korber's HIV immunity research might quickly turn the tides.
Although current Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) treatment hinders the infection rate and delays death, there is no HIV vaccine or cure available for the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). The United Nations estimates 14 million children have been orphaned by this disease, and 40,000 Americans will likely become infected this year.
LANL researcher Bette Korber and her team are solving challenging problems regarding HIV evolution and transmission and, importantly, how the human immune system reacts to the virus. Korber's team is designing three vaccines to target this rapidly mutating virus. Animal tests are underway, with promising results and human trials will begin soon. These vaccines might finally deal a lethal blow to the AIDS virus.
"HIV expands and contracts like an accordion," Korber, recipient of acclaimed awards, told an audience during a Los Alamos lecture. "The mystery is why we can't clear it with our immune response."
The HIV virus's mechanisms make it extraordinarily good at avoiding triggering an immune response, making it nearly impossible to fight the infection. Korber's team's vaccine model is based on a mixture of synthetic proteins that address the virus's evasive nature. Not only does the HIV-1 virus mutate quickly, increasing its drug resistance, but its evolution affects the virus's sequence. The virus is also protected by a cloak of sugar molecules that prevents antibodies from blocking the HIV proteins used to invade the cell.
In mid-October, nine hundred experts convened at the international AIDS vaccine conference in South Africa. Doubts were expressed about whether a vaccine is on the horizon. "Fundamentally we don't understand enough about the human immune system and we don't know how the immune system deals with HIV," said Lynn Morris, conference co-chair.
Korber's HIV immunity research might quickly turn the tides.
Additional AIDS Research
A Los Alamos National Laboratory mathematical model provided answers for the first time about offspring from a virus closely related to that which causes AIDS.
Thanks to this model, LANL researcher Alan Perelson and colleagues found that a single Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV) produces about 50,000 offspring (viral burst) from a single cell, far more than previously believed. SIV and HIV infect hosts in highly similar ways.
With this information about SIV, AIDS researchers can more effectively create methods to reduce the number of virus progeny and limit infection.
Together, LANL AIDS researchers may soon find the answer to destroy this plague that is possibly the most dangerous disease the world has witnessed.
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