Diabetic drug may be linked to cure for HIV
Published: July 6, 2006
A potential cure for HIV may have been discovered by a research team that includes University scientists.
Neither the University of Georgia nor the drug company that produces the potentially HIV-curing drug have officially announced the new treatment, which is still in its last phases of clinical studies. Already used to treat a chronic condition associated with diabetics, the drug is designed for long-term use and would be less harmful than other HIV drugs.
Thomas Hodge, a senior research scientist at the University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, is hopeful about its prospects.
“The existence of this useable drug put us ahead by ten years,” Hodge said. “Now we can cut to the chase.”
The “chase” is getting the drug to the tens of millions of people diagnosed with HIV worldwide, if it passes clinical studies.
Hodge is now waiting for drug samples to test on cell cultures, which he feels certain will be a success.
“We know what the drug does, and it’s exactly what we need it to do,” Hodge said. “It works so well, researchers are saying they’ve never seen anything like it.” It’s just a matter of doing the cell cultures and getting the FDA to approve the drug’s use for HIV, he added.
The FDA process for approving the drug is in progress, according to Hodge. He expects to see human trials of the drug as early as January 2007.
The 25 drugs used to treat HIV work by shutting off genes or proteins of the virus. But this approach isn’t a permanent solution since the virus can mutate, rendering a drug ineffective,
said Harold Bolton, client service coordinator of AIDS Athens.
For this reason, patients undergoing treatment for HIV must change to a new drug each time the virus learns to bypass the old one.
By focusing instead on blocking genes within the human cell, Hodge’s method would give the immune system a chance to completely eradicate the HIV virus.
“It hit us in the face pretty hard,” said Hodge, referring to the initial breakthrough he and fellow researchers made last fall.
While studying genes that help transport viruses from one human cell to another, a clinical researcher at the University of Texas, Don Ruben, presented Hodge with a previously unidentified protein that can be used to “shut off” an infected cell’s catalytic site — the port where viruses disembark and spread to other cells.
When the protein is knocked out, it essentially cuts off the cell so the HIV virus can’t replicate itself and spread, Hodge said.
Hodge and his team already had identified 23 genes that produced proteins necessary for the exportation of HIV to other cells. According to Hodge, theoretically these proteins can be blocked, stopping the virus from spreading.
During a procedural search of existing drugs, Hodge’s team found one that perfectly matched the newly discovered protein.
Hodge thinks treatment will be as simple as taking one pill, once per day, for four or five years.
If this prediction about the drug is realistic, it could make fighting HIV in Africa and third-world countries easier, Hodge said.
“People have known about viruses since 1895,” Hodge said, “and now we’re finally close to curing those sons of bitches.”
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