5 Most Exciting Developments In The Search For An AIDS Cure
AIDS is a disease that, despite years of valiant efforts, has proven resistant to cures. Treatments have improved by leaps and bounds but the cure still eludes researchers. But these exciting developments let everyone knows that a cure for AIDS may be closer than you think.
Mice With Immunity
Mice may be a far cry from humans but researchers at the University of Southern California have achieved their goal of creating cells in mice that are immune to this virus. This is exciting because it is a process that works to stop the AIDS virus. Much work will have to be done to replicate the process in humans, if such a feat is even possible, but this could very well turn out to be a cure for AIDS.
The Virus Killer
Researchers at a variety of respected institutions including Harvard University, UCLA, the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, and several others have discovered a chemical that kills viruses. Named LJ001, this chemical works against virus membranes. This means that it only works against viruses with membranes but some of the conditions caused by viruses with membranes include AIDS, Ebola, and Rift Valley fever. Most importantly, this chemical attacks the membranes of viruses but is completely harmless when it comes to normal human cells.
Gene Therapy
There is hope that gene therapy may lead to a cure for aids. Researchers at the City of Hope National Medical Center located in Duarte, California took immune stem cells from cancer patients who also had HIV. They then added in genes to fight the HIV virus and returned the immune cells to the patients. These stronger cells diversified into the many kinds of immune system cells that HIV attacks, making it hopeful that this process could grow into a cure.
Monkey Protein
There is a protein in rhesus monkeys that eliminates HIV. By identifying the exact mechanisms by which this occurs, researchers may be able to manufacture a cure for HIV in humans. Efforts are underway to identify the amino acids that do the job.
CSA-54
Paul D. Savage of Brigham Young University may have found a cure for AIDS. This supposed cure is still in the preliminary stages of testing but looks promising. CSA-54 is one of a group of compounds known as Ceragenins. It behaves just like the anti-microbial and anti-viral agents that a healthy immune system produces. This compound works by issuing its assault at the molecular membrane level of HIV and prevents the adverse effects on the white blood cells that make up the immune system. The most exciting part is that thus far this treatment appears to be effective at dealing with all the known strains of HIV.
These are the 5 most exciting developments in the search for an AIDS cure. With this much progress and this many potential cures it is clear that many researchers are cracking the code of how to end the threat that AIDS poses once and for all. This is another excellent reminder that the word incurable only means that there isn’t a cure yet.
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