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Vaccine could reduce HIV to 'minor infection'
The Telegraph ^ | Sept. 28, 2011 | Stephen Adams

Posted on 09/28/2011 8:06:30 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY

Spanish researchers found that 22 of 24 healthy people (92 per cent) developed an immune response to HIV after being given their MVA-B vaccine.

Professor Mariano Esteban, head researcher on the project at the National Biotech Centre in Madrid, said of the jab: "It is like showing a picture of the HIV so that it is able to recognise it if it sees it again in the future."

The injection contains four HIV genes which stimulate T and B lymphocytes, which are types of white blood cells.

Prof Esteban explained: "Our body is full of lymphocytes, each of them programmed to fight against a different pathogen.

"Training is needed when it involves a pathogen, like the HIV one, which cannot be naturally defeated".

B cells produce antibodies which attack viruses before they infect cells, while T cells detect and destroy infected cells.

The study showed that almost three-quarters of participants had developed HIV-specific antibodies 11 months after vaccination.Over a third developed one type of T cell that fights HIV, called CD4+, while over two-thirds developed another, called CD8+.

Overall, 92 per cent developed some sort of immune response. However, that is not the same thing as being protected from HIV infection: the response could be inadequate to provide protection.

Prof Esteban acknowledged the vaccine was at an early stage, describing it as "promising".

The next step is to test it in people with HIV to see if it works as a "therapeutic" - reducing the viral count.

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: hiv; hivvaccine; leukemia; ms

1 posted on 09/28/2011 8:06:34 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
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To: Free ThinkerNY

As usual, more progress made on VD than Cancer or heart disease. It makes for an interesting thesis about societal priorities, doesn’t it?


2 posted on 09/28/2011 8:10:13 PM PDT by buccaneer81 (ECOMCON)
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To: Free ThinkerNY

Ahhhh, yes. So why don’t we just all just get on the ‘infection train’ and say it’s “no big deal”. /s

Rip that “poop h***” and NOTHING comes of it. NO responsibility, no disease, NOTHING.


3 posted on 09/28/2011 8:10:53 PM PDT by RushIsMyTeddyBear (I don't have a Cousin "Pookie" and I don't wear slippers.)
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To: buccaneer81

America won’t be great until we vaccinate immoral behavior! /s


4 posted on 09/28/2011 8:16:46 PM PDT by volunbeer (Keep the dope, we'll make the change in 2012!)
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To: Free ThinkerNY

How long will it be before they re-open all the bath houses?


5 posted on 09/28/2011 8:17:19 PM PDT by ClearCase_guy (The USSR spent itself into bankruptcy and collapsed -- and aren't we on the same path now?)
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To: buccaneer81
As usual, more progress made on VD than Cancer or heart disease. It makes for an interesting thesis about societal priorities, doesn’t it?

I have MS...my husband was ranting about just this thing the other day.

Considering the number of years "research" has been done on MS, versus HIV, they sure have made a lot of progress on HIV, with very little progress on MS...they still aren't even sure of the cause, and the treatments are not what you'd call "effective" considering the risks and side effects one has to endure when you choose one.

6 posted on 09/28/2011 8:18:07 PM PDT by dawn53
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To: dawn53

I agree. I work for a European based Big Pharma company. The focus we’ve placed on HIV in the past decade, while neglecting other projects has been a hot topic of debate in my office. Being from Europe, it is painfully obvious to us that the UN has dictated policy toward this effort (yes, we have a UN lobbyist.)


7 posted on 09/28/2011 8:34:44 PM PDT by buccaneer81 (ECOMCON)
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To: dawn53
I have MS...my husband was ranting about just this thing the other day.

Considering the number of years "research" has been done on MS, versus HIV, they sure have made a lot of progress on HIV, with very little progress on MS...they still aren't even sure of the cause, and the treatments are not what you'd call "effective" considering the risks and side effects one has to endure when you choose one.


With all due respect to you, because MS is not something I would wish on anyone, I think that is probably because MS is a much more "sophisticated" difficult illness and trying to tease out its causes and remedies orders of magnitude greater than for the virus that causes HIV.

I realize that is rather cold comfort, but that is more likely the reason why progress on HIV is better than on MS.
8 posted on 09/28/2011 8:38:37 PM PDT by Oceander (Not voting is tantamount to voting for Obama)
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To: Oceander

I guess you have a point, but they never seem to make headway on diseases like MS, new meds, but new meds like Tysabri carry a known risk of PML (which can turn your brain to mush) and Gilenya (which can kill your immune system.) I stick with an interferon, which has about a 33 percent effectiveness rate of lowering relapses (not great considering the med costs 3 grand a month.)

I don’t know, I’ve found “comfort” in figuring lack of progress was because MS was an “orphan” disease, so to speak, not large numbers with the disease, therefore, the financial advantage to pharmaceuticals (considering they still make a lot of money on not curing the disease but on the treatments) would not warrant their investment in a cure.

On the other hand, on a moral basis (which I know is a joke when speaking of pharmaceuticals), there are a lot of diseases that are not brought about by someone’s “behavior”...MS being one of them, along with ALS, MD, Lupus, etc. and it’s hard not to resent the fact that HIV, in a short span, has gone from killer disease and almost certain death to “minor infection” (if this research is true.)


9 posted on 09/28/2011 8:53:02 PM PDT by dawn53
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To: buccaneer81

Not surprising, and as I said in my last post, the numbers affected by HIV versus MS may be the reason for all the research. But will these vaccines reach countries in Africa where the disease causes lots of deaths, or will the HIV “vaccine” just be used in Western countries so a certain community can continue their “risky” behavior, and yet not be “at risk” anymore because there’s a vaccine.


10 posted on 09/28/2011 8:56:39 PM PDT by dawn53
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To: dawn53
Understood, and I do apologize if anything I've said is at all hurtful. Perhaps the slight sliver of a silver lining might be that, if HIV can shortly be turned into a "minor infection" then there is no longer any justification for continuing to throw so much money and research resources at it, which should free up some of those resources to focus more on MS.

Quite frankly, I would have thought that a disease like MS would be the more challenging foe to work on for a research scientist, since HIV is, at bottom, really just a virus, albeit a rather fancy one, and we do have a fairly good grounding in dealing with a lot of virii.
11 posted on 09/28/2011 9:01:23 PM PDT by Oceander (Not voting is tantamount to voting for Obama)
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To: Oceander

No offense taken whatsoever from your posts.

Positive side to MS, that I’ve seen over the years, is they seem to have developed a lot more meds to treat symptoms, even though meds to treat the disease are lagging.

I have a baclofen pump and I’d classify that as a “near miracle” in keeping me mobile and dealing with spasticity issues and pain caused by it. They now have fatigue meds (I, personally don’t take them, but I know people that do and they’re a godsend) and they use more sophisticated meds for sensory symptoms, instead of relying, as they used to on Tegretol and/or Amitriptyline. All kinds of bladder meds, if the MS should cause bladder dysfunction, walking drugs (like Ampyra) and even the use of nerve stimulating walking aids, should a person deal with foot drop.

So it’s not like they aren’t offering relief from symptoms, just no real way to guarantee stopping progression.


12 posted on 09/28/2011 9:12:05 PM PDT by dawn53
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To: Free ThinkerNY
Those who contracted AIDS through no fault of their own would appreciate a therapeutic vaccine.
13 posted on 09/28/2011 9:56:36 PM PDT by count-your-change (You don't have to be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)
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To: dawn53

The HIV research in a way could cure MS. HIV is a retrovirus and there are some hypothesises which state that MS is caused by a retrovirus. Any defeat of HIV would help MS if MS is caused by a retrovirus. This is very good news for people who suffer from other retroviruses.


14 posted on 09/28/2011 9:57:24 PM PDT by NorthStarStateConservative (Springtime in America will arrive on January 21, 2013.)
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To: dawn53

Thanks to the UN, we literally give the product away, for free to 23 African nations. That’s why the governments and insurance companies in the West are financially raped for the same drugs.


15 posted on 09/28/2011 10:37:33 PM PDT by buccaneer81 (ECOMCON)
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To: buccaneer81
As usual, more progress made on VD than Cancer or heart disease. It makes for an interesting thesis about societal priorities, doesn’t it?

Responses like this sicken me for their flippancy. HIV research has been a phenomenal boon to human understanding of virology and immunology.

New leukemia treatment exceeds 'wildest expectations' uses a modified, harmless version of HIV.

16 posted on 09/29/2011 1:17:19 AM PDT by newzjunkey (Obama wins reelecton; GOP will find a way to lose.)
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To: NorthStarStateConservative
The HIV research in a way could cure MS. HIV is a retrovirus and there are some hypothesises which state that MS is caused by a retrovirus

Ah, but there's the rub. Over the years I've heard so many, it may be this, or it may be that, as to the cause, and still nobody has a solid lead on it.

17 posted on 09/29/2011 4:32:30 AM PDT by dawn53
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To: newzjunkey
Responses like this sicken me for their flippancy. HIV research has been a phenomenal boon to human understanding of virology and immunology.

I've worked in Big Pharma for 22 years. I call 'em as I see 'em.

18 posted on 09/29/2011 12:26:17 PM PDT by buccaneer81 (ECOMCON)
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