Against infection with AIDS virus to help other
American scientists have developed a prototype vaccine against AIDS. The new drug will be embedded into the cells a gene that protects against the virus.
Researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Columbus (Ohio), worked to its vaccine for about ten years. They warned that if their method would be effective enough (so far he has successfully tested on monkeys), before clinical use will be several more years.
The virus has antivirus
Nevertheless, initial results are encouraging, and the use of medical approach may be theoretically available not only on AIDS but also for other diseases, particularly malaria. Instead of having to type in the body material, which should lead to the formation of immunity, scientists took a different path.
Their approach may seem paradoxical: to combat the virus doctors used another virus. They used the main feature of viruses – their inability to reproduce outside the cell and instead integrate their genes into the DNA of the cell, turning it into a “factory” for producing copies of the virus. Taken scientists adenovirus also infects the body and splices its genes into cells, but does not cause any disease. Gen. specially designed medical virus encodes molecules that bind to the HIV virus and ensure its destruction.
The cells that were exposed to a viral vaccine, starting along with their own proteins to produce another protein: a protein that antibodies to the AIDS virus. And, most importantly, these antibodies do not only produce special immune system cells, and cells of other types – until the muscle tissue. If after the injection of a new type of vaccine into the body gets HIV, then it is ready to meet with antibodies and then the virus will be destroyed by conventional means the immune system.
Antibodies and HIV
As the scientists write in the journal Nature Medicine, the novelty of their method is to use methods developed by genetic engineering of the virus. Sami antibodies, which produce the modified virus vaccine cells are part of the natural mechanism of the immune system. They selectively bind to certain substances (including proteins of the virus) and further ensure the launch of biochemical reactions that cause the destruction of “flagging” their object: for each new virus organism must synthesize their own antibodies.
It is this necessity and the lack of pre-prepared stock of antibodies leads to vulnerability to many diseases: still special cells of the immune system (B-lymphocytes) produce antibodies, the virus manages to infect other cells. And besides the AIDS virus infects the very immune system – which leads eventually to death from so-called opportunistic (from the Latin opportunus – «comfortable,” that is received by the possibility of immunosuppression) infections.
Previously, other scientists have repeatedly tried to use direct injection of antibodies – but this method was too expensive even for the containment of infection, not to mention the mass prophylaxis. Therefore, doctors have tried to enter or already producing antibodies lymphocytes, or create some combination of substances capable of “push” the immune system to synthesize antibodies: While none of these methods was not sufficiently effective for clinical (and often laboratory) applications.
Possible universal vaccination
Researchers have developed a new approach, showed that he, at least, works in monkeys. They also tested it for resistance with time: a high concentration of antibodies that provide protection against AIDS as well (and its simian counterpart) maintained for one year after the injection.
As one of the researchers, Philip Johnson, for the absolute success of the method should be refined by expanding the range of produced antibodies. But, if this can be done and the vaccine will be clinical trials – were immunized against AIDS may become as real as the mandatory vaccination against measles and other diseases.