Found a vaccine for HIV?

Scientists claim to have created such a powerful anti-HIV drug that it could act as a vaccine to prevent this dangerous virus.

>>>For the first time 'wiping' the HIV virus from human cells

Short-tailed macaques that were given new drugs were able to resist deliberately injecting multiple doses of human AIDS-causing drugs into their bodies. The patent group claims that its drugs have shown "amazing effects" in preventing all major HIV strains tested, creating an important step towards effective treatment of AIDS .

The technique works by using gene therapy to put a new piece of DNA inside healthy cells."We have shown a way to achieve long-term, effective protection like the vaccine before HIV," said Professor Michael Farzan from Scripps Research Institute in Florida, USA, who led the study. strong.

The prototype drug, eCD4-Ig, consists of two components that simulate receptors or anchor points, where HIV attaches to CD4 cells - a key defense of immune cells. The emulator components caught the HIV virus, tricking it into hastily carrying out the mooring process.

Image of HIV particles attacking a human cell.(Photo: Daily Mail)

The virus can only perform this process once, so the simulated components of the drug prevent it from sticking to CD4 cells anymore. Scientists liken this effect to closing the door to the intruder and throwing away the door key.

The team conducted a 40-week trial, which showed that animals vaccinated with eCD4-Ig survived even after four doses of the virus were enough to make them sick. Further research found that short-tailed monkeys "continued to be protected after 8 and 16 doses of infectious virus infection, more than a year after vaccination with eCD4-Ig".

Professor Farzan expressed his desire to soon conduct trials with human eCD4-Ig in the future.

Dr. Shaun Griffin, Terrence Higgins charity director, welcomed the new discovery by Professor Farzan and his colleagues. Still, he was cautious saying there would be no way to know the effectiveness of the drug until it was officially tested in humans.

The search for vaccines against HIV is one of the most important issues in the fight against AIDS in the world. Since 1981, about 78 million people have been infected with HIV, the virus that destroys immune cells and makes the body more susceptible to infections, pneumonia and other opportunistic diseases. About 39 million of them died, according to UN statistics.

Antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) invented in the mid-1990s can treat infections, but cannot cure AIDS or prevent infection with HIV. The treatment of HIV infection now lasts a lifetime and contains many unwanted side effects. For many health systems around the globe, the cost of buying ARVs for people is increasing and becomes a major burden on the national budget.