Scientists use stem cells to create HIV resistance
(Medical Xpress)—Yuet Wai Kan of the University of California, San Francisco and colleagues have created HIV-resistant white blood cells by editing the genomes of induced pluripotent stem cells. The researchers inserted genes with a mutation that confers resistance to HIV into stem cells. White blood cells grown from these stem cells were HIV resistant. The research appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
11 Condom Designs Each Get $100,000 From Gates Foundation
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is supporting 11 condom designs with grants of $100,000 each to improve user experience, according to a foundation statement. The grants are funded through its Grand Challenges Explorations initiative, which supports innovative ideas to tackle key global health and development problems.
Cure for HIV on the cards — scientists discover a way to kill hidden HIV virus
Scientists have identified a new way to reactivate latent HIV, which could help overcome one of the biggest obstacles to finding a cure for the deadly virus. Researchers at the Gladstone Institutes found that increasing the random activity, or noise, associated with HIV gene expression – without increasing the average level of gene expression – can reactivate latent HIV.
Scientists Uncover Features of Antibody-Producing Cells in People Infected with HIV
Using advanced tools to probe B-cell responses to HIV and other pathogens in the laboratory, the researchers found that the B cells that make antibodies to HIV in infected, untreated people are abnormal in that they are more activated, unstable and unresponsive to further stimulation than normal B cells, and also are infrequently observed in healthy people. This finding may help explain why HIV-specific antibodies naturally produced by HIV-infected people do not clear the infection, according to the scientists.
We’ll Never Stop the Spread of HIV Without a Vaccine
Out of 90 vaccine attempts, only 5 vaccine candidates were worthy of progressing to phase two or phase three human efficacy trials, and of those five, only two vaccines continue in clinical trials today — one in this country and one in South Africa. But we can’t stop now.
Drug Delivery System Cuts Daily Medication Needs to Semiannual Injections
New research from the University of Cambridge has now made it possible to reduce a person’s daily medication needs down to only two semiannual injections. This twice-per-year drug delivery system would not only be much more convenient for people suffering from conditions like diabetes and HIV/AIDS, but might also increase people’s long-term adherence to their prescribed drug regimens.
Bacteria linked to Heart Disease in HIV-Positive People
The first direct proof of a long-suspected cause of multiple HIV-related health complications was recently obtained by a team led by the University of Pittsburgh Center for Vaccine Research (CVR). The study also found that a non-HIV drug may help address the problem.
Happy and Gay?
ART adherence higher among youth in Africa than North America
Adolescents and young people (AYA) aged 12 – 24 in Africa and Asia are more likely to be adherent to antiretroviral therapy (ART) than their counterparts in North America and Europe, according to research published in AIDS this week. The study points to the fact that the HIV epidemics in North America and Europe are concentrated among key populations who are often marginalised from society, meaning they are hidden and have inadequate access to HIV services, such as treatment.