http://www.sciencecodex.com/transmissible_tre...preaders_to_curb_epidemic

[...] a fundamentally new intervention for the HIV/AIDS epidemic based on engineered, virus-like particles that could subdue HIV infection within individual patients and spread to high-risk populations that are difficult for public health workers to reach. [...] the engineered particles could work in concert with current treatments for HIV infection and lower the prevalence of infection more effectively than current drugs or proposed vaccines alone. [...] "TIPs are molecular parasites that 'piggyback' on HIV to spread between individuals," Weinberger said. The engineered particles use the same outer envelope as HIV but lack the genes for components of this structure and the enzymes needed to assemble it. They can only replicate, infect additional cells and transmit to new individuals by stealing these elements from HIV. Until the host cell is infected with HIV, TIPs remain dormant. In an HIV-infected individual, TIPs would transmit to others in the same ways as the natural virus – through unprotected sex or shared needles, for example. That means TIPs would, by design, penetrate high-risk populations that are responsible for a disproportionate share of the spread of disease and can be particularly difficult for public-health officials to reach. [...] An intervention using TIPs could lower the number of people infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa to one thirtieth the current level in about 30 years, they found. Optimistic predictions for vaccine campaigns or currently available antiretroviral therapy would lower the number of HIV-infected people by less than one half the current level over the same period of time. [...]

CROI 2011 news:
part 1
part 2


Promising drug for the cure for HIV (KP-1461 ):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Error_catastrophe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjYyTo5vEsw&feature=related (very interesting video on youtube)
Here an intriguing discussion about KP-1461 ("Gilead see KP-1461 as a possible cure for HIV")

... and latest news on novel drug Ibalizumad

Hello littlepeaks,

Time will tell, but at least there have already been some benefits to the research performed against other diseases. For instance, giving FightAIDS@Home the opportunity to run calculations on World Community Grid caused the members of the Olson lab at TSRI to work with the people at IBM in order to modify the AutoDock code so that it can run well on World Community Grid. After we did this, other scientists were then able to run their own AutoDock-based projects on World Community Grid against cancer, dengue fever, and (hopefully coming soon) malaria. Running so many calculations on World Community Grid also helped us notice ways in which we could improve the accuracy and efficiency of AutoDock calculations run on World Community Grid, on personal computers, and on the linux clusters that many universities use. Since AutoDock is used by thousands of labs throughout the world, the World Community Grid-inspired changes in the AutoDock code are already helping many scientists perform research against many diseases. In addition to freely sharing the computational tools (that we have honed while using World Community Grid) with the rest of the scientific community, we also share our general strategies and specific plans with the scientific community on our FightAIDS@Home "Status" page and in our Newsletters--this can all benefit the research that other scientists perform against HIV and against other diseases.

We don't have the resources or time to evaluate all compounds against the drug targets from all diseases. We have to focus our efforts in a way that enables us to make the biggest impact that we can. Since we computationally evaluate the antiviral potential of different compounds against the specific drug targets from HIV (and only HIV), we are not able to predict whether these compounds might be useful against other viral diseases. Some of them might be, but the experts who focus on other diseases will need to evaluate their potential against those other diseases. After our collaborators have thoroughly proven the anti-HIV potential of compounds that are discovered on FightAIDS@Home, the details about those specific compounds and the tools and protocols we used to discover them are published. The experts who focus on other viral diseases can then test those compounds against the disease(s) they study, and they can learn from and potentially extend the tools and strategies we use. It's a long, intense, iterative process, and it tends to take years before the exciting new discoveries have been well-validated and then published.

Thank you for your interest and your support,
Dr. Alex Perryman

http://www.sciencecodex.com/study_identifies_promising_target_for_aids_vaccine

"A section of the AIDS virus's protein envelope once considered an improbable target for a vaccine now appears to be one of the most promising, new research by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists indicates. The section, a twisting strand of protein known as the V3 loop, is an attractive vaccine target because immune system antibodies aimed at the loop may offer protection against multiple genetic subtypes of HIV-1, the virus that causes AIDS. [...] researchers need to devise a way to focus the body's immune system responses to the small portion of the V3 loop that is shared by viruses of different clades. The immune system could then generate its own protective antibodies against the virus. One way of accomplishing this may be to create small molecules that represent this special region inside the V3 loop so the immune system can recognize and attack it."

http://www.sciencecodex.com/hiv_protein_unveils_vaccine_target

"An international study headed by a UC Davis scientist describes how a component of a potential HIV vaccine opens like a flower, undergoing one of the most dramatic protein rearrangements yet observed in nature. [...] HIV infects a type of white blood cell called the CD4 T cell, weakening the immune system and leading to AIDS. HIV attaches to these cells through the envelope protein complex, which is made up of three gp120 proteins and three gp41 proteins [...] First, the gp120 protein attaches to a CD4 protein on the victim cell's membrane. Then it uses gp41 to punch a hole through the membrane. [...] when the HIV protein complex attaches to a CD4 protein, it rotates and flattens, exposing more of the gp41 proteins in the middle — probably allowing the gp41 protein to get closer to the cell membrane so it can lock on. It also potentially exposes an area of the virus that would be vulnerable to attack by the immune system, Cheng said. If a person were vaccinated and had antibodies to such a protein region, they might be able to stop the virus at the point of invading the CD4 T cell. The gp120 protein itself varies considerably between strains, so it has been difficult to make an effective vaccine against it. But these hidden protein regions vary less between different strains of HIV [...]"