http://www.365gay.com/newscon04/11/111604AIDS.htm
French Scientists Announce AIDS Vaccine Breakthrough
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: November 17, 2004 12:01 am ET
(Paris) Researchers at Pasteur Institute and France's National Center for Scientific Research announced Tuesday that they have been able to stimulate antibodies to significantly bock HIV from infecting human immune cells.
The tests have been conducted only under laboratory conditions, and the scientists say they are still a long way from developing a safe human vaccine. Nevertheless, they say it is a significant breakthrough.
Antibodies are the molecular forces that form the the frontline in the body's defense system. Many vaccines, such as those against the flu, polio and measles, are based on antibodies by using a strand of the virus to activate the immune system.
Until now, attempts have failed to stimulate antibodies against HIV.
The French researchers concentrated their efforts on a tiny area of a surface protein found to be common across a range of HIV types.
They then synthesized a chain of peptides immunized rabbits with it.
In lab-dish experiments in which blood taken from the immunized rabbits was exposed to human T-cells and the virus, it proved to be a successful shield against most of the sub-types of HIV-1, the most common strains of the virus.
The finding will "open up interesting prospects for the development of a vaccine against AIDS," said team leader Ara Hovanessian of the Pasteur Institute, in a press statement.
"Twenty years after the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was identified, the AIDS pandemic is one of the greatest challenges to public health on a global scale."
Isn't sad that something like this goes only reported on a gay website?
French Scientists Announce AIDS Vaccine Breakthrough
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: November 17, 2004 12:01 am ET
(Paris) Researchers at Pasteur Institute and France's National Center for Scientific Research announced Tuesday that they have been able to stimulate antibodies to significantly bock HIV from infecting human immune cells.
The tests have been conducted only under laboratory conditions, and the scientists say they are still a long way from developing a safe human vaccine. Nevertheless, they say it is a significant breakthrough.
Antibodies are the molecular forces that form the the frontline in the body's defense system. Many vaccines, such as those against the flu, polio and measles, are based on antibodies by using a strand of the virus to activate the immune system.
Until now, attempts have failed to stimulate antibodies against HIV.
The French researchers concentrated their efforts on a tiny area of a surface protein found to be common across a range of HIV types.
They then synthesized a chain of peptides immunized rabbits with it.
In lab-dish experiments in which blood taken from the immunized rabbits was exposed to human T-cells and the virus, it proved to be a successful shield against most of the sub-types of HIV-1, the most common strains of the virus.
The finding will "open up interesting prospects for the development of a vaccine against AIDS," said team leader Ara Hovanessian of the Pasteur Institute, in a press statement.
"Twenty years after the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was identified, the AIDS pandemic is one of the greatest challenges to public health on a global scale."
Isn't sad that something like this goes only reported on a gay website?
