Scientists find way to "disarm" AIDS virus, page 1

Scientists find way to "disarm" AIDS virus

(Reuters) - Scientists have found a way to prevent HIV from damaging the immune system and say their discovery may offer a new approach to developing a vaccine against AIDS.

Researchers from the United States and Europe working in laboratories on the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) found it is unable to damage the immune system if cholesterol is removed from the virus's membrane.

"It's like an army that has lost its weapons but still has flags, so another army can recognize it and attack it," said Adriano Boasso of Imperial College London, who led the study.

The team now plans to investigate how to use this way of inactivating the virus and possibly develop it into a vaccine.

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reply to post by Xcathdra

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Maybe you're right. Maybe our fights against these diseases are supposed to get worse as time goes by.
Makes perfect sense to me.

I lost a parent to breast cancer so I'm quite familiar with the whole ordeal after diagnosis, as well as the options given to cancer patients vs what we all see available online. Doctors and hospitials will not allow alternative treatments/ possible cures because insurance won't cover it and there's a monster pile of regulations and liability issues.



Most important part is at 1:40, listen closely....

reply to post by Xcathdra

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HIV-AIDS is prion related.

ALL prions require cholesterol to propagate - and ALL prions hijack the cells' machinery to create cholesterol. But ALL cholesterol is not bad. So on the surface, yeah, removing the cholesterol from the virus (or other cells') membranes seems like a good idea - but is it? Really?

reply to post by JibbyJedi

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Interesting video... Question, and this is meant with all due respect. I understand the anger with the pharam companies, but they are a business. Should they be forced to on a project that might not pan out, and on the off chance it does, wont be able to recoup the loss of the R and D / trials / approval?

The video talks about a potential wonder drug against cancer, but to date its only been used in animals, not humans. There is no guarantee it would work in humans.

With that being said, Government is in the business of looking out for the welfare of the people. Why not petition world governemts for small donations to get the testing done. That way, once done and if successful, it can be handed out to everyone world wide?

The dilema I face when asking myself these questions is - We know why busineeses are preent - to make money. They are not required to give away charity, or to engage in anything that would better humanity. To place that label on them only sets us up for failure when they decline.

If anything these types of research should be done as far away from pharam companies as possible. Advancing medical science outside of the boardroom would not only be a boon for humans, but would possibly put some of those pharams out of business, or force them to partner up and change their business model.

To drive the last point home, scientists in the HIV-AIDS case relied on gamers, not pharams, to assist in solving the problem.

Whats to prevent that from becoming the new business model? Instead of spending hundreds of millions over a decade, they can spend 100k and get an answer within 3 weeks. Heck I would like to see a non profit set up that specifically targets the gaming community to help advance this stuff faster for global human benefeit.

The results should be posted / shared to anyone, world wide, to expedite the possibility of medical cures / breakthroughs.

Again, forcing the pharam companies to change or be left behind.

When we keep hitting a brick wall, we either go around it, or, as a last resort, you blast your way through it.

reply to post by soficrow

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We won't know until we see how this discovery affects those questions. Is the discovery cholesterall specific? Would it be possible to develop something that only targets one type of cholesterol?

I remain optomistic because a week or so ago we didnt even know what we know now. 1 question took 10 years to be answered. We have now moved onto the next question...

Good.. Bad.... we moved on. If this pans out then we might be closer to a cure. If it doesnt pan out then we know that thie line of possibility is no longer viable, allowing resources to move into a different direction. The research and exclusion of this info could very well lead to another ah ha moment.

something that might not have been possible if this discovery never existed...

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