Sunday, January 31, 2010


Study Finds New Vaccine Effective in Preventing TB in African Patients With HIV Infection

5-Modified-2′-dU and 2′-dC as Mutagenic Anti HIV-1 Proliferation Agents: Synthesis and Activity

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jm901758f

With the goal of limiting HIV-1 proliferation by increasing the mutation rate of the viral genome, we synthesized a series of pyrimidine nucleoside analogues modified in position 5 of the aglycone moiety but unmodified on the sugar part. The synthetic strategies allow us to prepare the targeted compounds directly from commercially available nucleosides. All compounds were tested for their ability to reduce HIV-1 proliferation in cell culture. Two of them (5-hydroxymethyl-2′-dU (1c) and 5-hydroxymethyl-2′-dC (2c)) displayed a moderate antiviral activity in single passage experiments. The same two compounds plus two additional ones (5-carbamoyl-2′-dU (1a) and 5-carbamoylmethyl-2′-dU (1b)) were potent inhibitors of HIV-1 RT activity in serial passage assays, in which they induced a progressive loss of HIV-1 replication. In addition, viruses collected after seven passages in the presence of 1c and 2c replicated very poorly after withdrawal of these compounds, consistent with the accumulation of deleterious mutations in the HIV-1 genome.

Scientists Make Breakthrough in HIV Drug Research

"British and U.S. researchers said they had grown a crystal that enabled them to see the structure of an enzyme called integrase, which is found in retroviruses like HIV and is a target for some of the newest HIV medicines... When the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infects someone, it uses the integrase enzyme to paste a copy of its genetic information into their DNA, Cherepanov explained in the study published in the Nature journal on Sunday. Some new drugs for HIV -- like Isentress from Merck & Co (MRK.N) and elvitegravir, an experimental drug from Gilead Sciences (GILD.O) -- work by blocking integrase, but scientists are not clear exactly how they work or how to improve them. The only way to find out was to obtain high-quality crystals -- a project that had defeated scientists for many years."




the whole article here

Compound found that targets wide range of viruses

Cell-culture and animal tests show antiviral could provide protection against HIV, Ebola, hepatitis C, herpes and more

For HIV-infected Children, Quality of Caregiver Relationship is Crucial