HIV – Page 4 – GOLLYGEE!

10.30.2012

nanoparticle HIV test

A new HIV test uses gold nanoparticles to determine the presence of the HIV biomarker p24. In the presence of the biomarker the particles clump and turn blue. Otherwise, the particles produce a red color. The test is more sensitive and a lot cheaper than other tests. From Popular Science:

To detect the AIDS-causing virus using the new method, researchers add serum from a patient’s blood sample to a solution of gold nanoparticles. If the nanoparticles come into contact with an HIV biomarker called p24, they clump together into an irregular pattern that turns the mixture blue–indicating a positive test result. If p24 is absent, the gold nanoparticles separate into ball shapes, and the mixture turns red, signaling a negative result.
Lead investigator Molly Stevens said the test could be altered to detect other diseases, including malaria, sepsis, prostate cancer, tuberculosis, and leishmaniasis

Also check out the original publication in Nature Nanotechnology.

10.22.2012

hiv antibodies

Schematic diagram of an HIV virus and it’s coat glycoprotein bound to an antibody. Image from Corpus Christi College Oxford.

A South African study offers hope that an HIV vaccine can be developed. Certain changes in the virus’ coat proteins appear to trigger a more robust production of antibodies. From NPR news:

One of the women had neutralized 88 percent of 225 HIV virus subtypes after three years with the virus, while the other woman had neutralized 46 percent of 41 subtypes after two years of infection.

The researchers found that a specific change in the coating of the HIV virus appeared to be the trigger for the women to produce antibodies that could thwart its entry into cells.

One reason the HIV virus has proven so difficult to fight is that it is skilled at hiding from antibodies that can block the virus from attacking cells. But researchers believe that the more they understand how the antibodies develop, the better chance they have at developing an HIV vaccine.

The original research paper appears in Nature magazine.

08.29.2012

using HIV to fight cancer

A model of HIV.

HIV, like other viruses, mutates rapidly in response to changes in its environment. This ability to rapidly change gives them the ability to evade the natural defense mechanisms our bodies trigger once we are infected. Researchers have found a way to exploit this property of HIV to generate proteins that will help fight cancer. From Popular Science:

As HIV replicates, it creates slightly new versions of itself over successive generations – this allows it to readily resist most of the drug cocktails and anti-viral treatments developed to fight it. But it could also allow HIV to serve as a sort of molecule factory, creating new iterations of compounds that work in slightly different ways.

The CNRS team modified the genome of HIV by inserting a human gene for a protein called deoxycytidine kinase (dCK). This protein is found in all cells and is important for activating anti-cancer drugs. Researchers would like to make a more potent form of dCK that would allow cancer drugs to work more effectively, which could in turn require less of them, causing fewer side effects and less toxicity.

The team multiplied this mutant HIV through several generations, yielding an entire library of mutant dCK proteins, about 80 in all. Ultimately, they found a variant that induces tumor cells to die. With just 1/300th the dose of cancer-killing drugs, this one-two protein punch is just as effective at stopping tumor growth.

For more read here. For the original research paper from PLoS Genetics go here.

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Tag: HIV (page 4 of 5)

nanoparticle HIV test

hiv antibodies

using HIV to fight cancer