on december 29, 2013 at 8:37 pm in news


Scientist at the Gladstone Institutes have
identified the precise chain of molecular events
in the human body that drives the death of
most of the immune system’s CD4 T cells as
an HIV infection leads to AIDS.
Further, they have identified an existing anti-
inflammatory drug that in laboratory tests
blocks the death of these cells — and now are
planning a Phase 2 clinical trial to determine if
this drug or a similar drug can prevent HIV-
infected people from developing AIDS.
Two separate journal articles, published
simultaneously in Nature and Science, detail
the research from the laboratory of Dr. Warner
C. Greene, who directs virology and
immunology research at Gladstone, an
independent biomedical-research nonprofit.
His lab’s Science paper reveals how, during an
HIV infection, a protein known as IFI16 senses
fragments of HIV DNA in abortively infected
immune cells. This triggers the activation of
the human enzyme caspase-1 and leads to
pyroptosis, a fiery and highly inflammatory
form of cell death.
As revealed in Nature, this repetitive cycle of
abortive infection, cell death, inflammation and
recruitment of additional CD4 T cells to the
infection “hot zone” ultimately destroys the
immune system and causes AIDS.
“Gladstone has showed how the body’s own
immune response to HIV causes CD4 T cell
death via a pathway triggering inflammation,
and secondly by identifying the host DNA
sensor that detects the viral DNA and triggers
this death response,” said Dr. Robert F.
Siliciano, a professor of medicine at Johns
Hopkins University, and a Howard Hughes
Medical Institute investigator. “This one-two
punch of discoveries underscores the critical
value of basic science — by uncovering the
major cause of CD4 T cell depletion in AIDS,
Dr. Greene’s lab has been able to identify a
potential new therapy for blocking the
disease’s progression and improving on
current antiretroviral medications.”


http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/12/scientists-discover-potential-drug-block-aids/

Enough of these hopeful stories that usually sprang up and dies down even before a stick of candle.
The medication should be available for purchase not all those terminologies up there o jaree

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