In what should have been one of the more interesting late breaking submissions to the 2008 International AIDS conference in Mexico City, "Survivors of HIV infection produce potent, broadly neutralizing IgAs directed to the superantigenic region of the gp120 CD4 binding site.", a researcher from the University of Texas at Houston presented the results of their work attacking what has been recently described as the Achilles Heal of the HIV virus. According to the scientists, Sudhir Paul, Ph.D., Yasuhiro Nishiyama, Ph.D., and Stephanie Planque of the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, this discovery could soon lead to a cure for HIV.
One of the major obstacles that have hampered vaccine research to this point is the fact that HIV mutates rather rapidly. However, while many parts of the virus can mutate, there are other parts which must remain static for the virus to successfully infect the host cells. Dr. Paul Sudhir, lead researcher of the UT Houston team, announced the discovery of that unchangeable part of the virus in late July.
"We have discovered a part of HIV, a small region on the surface of HIV, that is mostly unchangeable," he said. "The reason that it is unchangeable is that the virus must keep it constant so that it can attach itself to cells."
The unchangeable part of the virus is a section of a key protein that does not mutate. This, says Dr. Paul, is the Achilles' heel of the HIV virus.
It was also announced that the team has developed an effective way of leveraging this knowledge to attack that part of the virus using molecules known as abzymes which can efficiently work to break down the virus. Abzymes are derived from both HIV negative people with lupus, an autoimmune disease, and in certain HIV positive people known as "elite controllers". Unlike typical approaches using antibodies, abzymes not only degrade the virus permanently but each one can destroy thousands of virus particles. These abzymes are relatively cheap and easy to produce and have already been demonstrated to neutralize infected human blood by various strains which indicates its wide applicability.
What makes this most exciting is that this is one of the first vaccine possibilities that appear to be capable of preventing new infections, managing and possibly curring current infections. Vaccine candidates to date, such as Merk's recent attempt, offered only to manage existing infections. It is believed that this knowledge could lead to both a true vaccine and a cure. Laboratory trials have gone very well to this point and the team in now seeking to start human trials. If all goes well, they believe that treatments and/or vaccines could be available in as little as five years.
