io9: aids

Scientists Use The AIDS Virus To Cure Cancer

Megan — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:17:00 PDT

HIV has been one of the worst killers of the past few decades worldwide — but now it may yield a cure for cancer. Scientists in Korea have been using the virus to cure lung cancer (in mice, at least.)

South Korean scientist Myung-Haing Cho modified a lentivirus, a genus in the Retroviridae family which includes most mammal immunodeficiency viruses, to deliver to lung-cancer tumors a gene, which inhibits cancer cells from reproducing in mice's lungs. Their method of choice? A nasal spray.

They had various cancer-ridden mice sniff the modified lentivirus twice a week for a month, and they found that the modified virus completely halted the progression of the lung cancer without harm to the non-cancerous tissue. In some cases, existing cancer cells even died off without further therapy.

Scientists consider modified lentiviruses ideal for cancer therapy (in addition to other gene therapies) because it affects even non-replicating cells (like neurons) and can create long term changes, positive changes in genes.

Of course, anybody who's seen I Am Legend knows that the "genetically engineered virus that fights cancer" thing can only end one way.

Science Fiction? Aerosol Delivery Of An Engineered Virus Halts Lung Cancer Progression In Mice [Pittsburgh Examiner]

[Image via Encyclopedia of Life]

Space Sex-Odyssey Reminds You To Wrap It Up [NSFW]

Meredith Woerner — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:40:00 PDT

This science fictional AIDS education poster encourages us all to explore the sexy corners of the final frontier, but to just be safe about it. Artist James Jean took an R-rated, yet totally fantastical, spin on the outer limits, and what we got was a crazy naked but beautiful piece of art, that encourages safe sex. Jean's posters not only stimulate the geeky mind in us all, but they also help support the French philanthropy (AIDES) that educates and fights against AIDS. Click through to see both posters.

[Aides and Process Recess]

Genetically-Engineered Babies With HIV-Resistant Genes

Annalee Newitz — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 07:40:46 PST

With a little genetic tweaking, homo sapiens could become naturally resistant to HIV. A gene that can disassemble the HIV virus inside its cell before it spreads to another cell lurks dormant in the body of every person infected with HIV. The problem is getting that gene to turn on and start stopping HIV in its tracks. Right now, a team of researchers at University of Alberta in Canada have been destroying HIV viruses by inserting the gene, called TRIM22, into cells. Once they figure out how to control TRIM22, the question is whether everyone should get the gene activated in their bodies at birth as a preventative measure.

According to a release about the new study:

[Medical researcher Dr. Stephen] Barr's team finds the results very exciting because it shows our bodies have a gene that is capable of stopping the spread of HIV. They are now trying to figure out why this gene does not work in people infected with HIV and if there is a way to turn this gene on in those individuals. "We hope that our research will lead to the design of new drugs and/or vaccines that can halt the person-to-person transmission of HIV and the spread of the virus in the body, thereby blocking the onset of AIDS."

Barr suggested that genetic engineering should take a take a backseat, and that he and his team would try to create a drug that behaves like the gene does:

There are always newly emerging drug-resistant strains of HIV so the push has been to develop more natural means of blocking the virus. The discovery of this gene, which is natural in our cells, might provide a different avenue. The gene prevents the assembly of the virus so in the future the idea would be to develop drugs or vaccines that can mimic the effects of this gene.

But we wonder why it wouldn't be just as easy to use a drug that activates the gene, or simply to insert the gene into people without it. Image of HIV virus from UCLA.

Researchers discover gene that blocks HIV [Eurekalert and Scienceblogs]

A "Morning Before" Pill to Prevent HIV Infection

Annalee Newitz — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 07:30:36 PST

In the next decade, people may begin taking HIV medications to prevent contracting the AIDS virus, much the same way people take malaria pills. A somewhat odd study of macaques done by a group of researchers with the CDC demonstrated that two anti-retroviral medications, Emtricitabine and Tenofovir, were relatively successful at stopping HIV-like infections in the monkeys. This is great news if it turns out to work in humans. The weird part was how the researchers chose to expose the macaques to the disease. Let's say they really went for realism.

Each macaque was exposed "rectally" to the virus, repeatedly over a series of weeks. A release about the study said:

To simulate a common route of HIV transmission in humans, the researchers exposed the macaques to low weekly doses of [HIV-esque virus] SHIV that were given rectally. Five groups of macaques were all exposed to the virus in the same way, but they were given different dosages and combinations of antiretroviral drugs. Three groups received drugs daily: the first was only injected with one anti-HIV drug, emtricitabine (FTC); the second group received a daily dose of this drug by mouth in combination with an oral form of another anti-HIV drug called tenofovir; the third was injected with FTC and a high dose of tenofovir every day. A fourth group was also injected with FTC and a high dose of tenofovir, but macaques in this group were only treated shortly before and after the weekly exposures to HIV. For comparison a fifth group of macaques received no anti-HIV drugs.

The results showed that macaques from any of the four groups that received drugs were less likely to become infected than those in the fifth (control) group. All of the macaques receiving the combination of both FTC and the high dosage of tenofovir were protected from infection — whether they were from the group that received these drugs daily, or only around the time of exposure to infection. The results suggest that higher doses and combinations of drugs worked better than single or low doses, and also that PrEP may not need to be taken every day to be effective.

I understand the need to recreate the circumstances surrounding HIV transmission in humans. But isn't it just as likely that a human might get HIV from a dirty needle or transfusion? Plus, anal sex isn't the only way HIV is transmitted — in Africa, where AIDS is a far more devastating problem than in the West, it's transmitted from penis-in-vagina sex.

I guess the researchers in this study really wanted to focus on preventing the spread of HIV via anal sex. Fair enough. People who think they might be at risk for contracting HIV through sex could go on a course of Emtricitabine or Tenofovir and worry less about wrapping themselves in layers of latex. I can't wait for the day when clinics in San Francisco have giant candy dishes full of HIV drugs next to the shiny trays of condoms. Image by rselph.

Prevention of Rectal SHIV Transmission in Macaques by Daily or Intermittent Prophylaxis with Emtricitabine and Tenofovir [PLoS Medicine]

The Star Trek Script They Tried To Kill

charliejane — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 08:00:23 PST

You can soon see the story that was too hot for Star Trek: The Next Generation. David Gerrold's AIDS allegory "Blood And Fire" will be an upcoming episode of Star Trek: The New Voyages. Gerrold, writer of "The Trouble With Tribbles" and author of The Man Who Folded Himself, is directing his own script. Still more proof that fan movies are the future of Trek. [NY Times]