http://medicalxpress.com/hiv-aids-news/ en-us Medical Xpress provides the latest news on HIV, Aids, HIV research, Aids Research, Aids Studies and HIV medicine. The hunt for an HIV vaccine has gobbled up $8 billion in the past decade, and the failure of the most recent efficacy trial has delivered yet another setback to 26 years of efforts. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-gap-hiv-vaccine-efforts-latest.html HIV & AIDS Sun, 19 May 2013 09:20:01 EST news288173183 Big names in medicine are set to give an upbeat assessment of the war on AIDS on Tuesday, 30 years after French researchers identified the virus that causes the disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-aids-science-lexicon.html HIV & AIDS Sat, 18 May 2013 02:50:01 EST news288061166 A team of NIH scientists has developed a new tool to identify broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) capable of preventing infection by the majority of HIV strains found around the globe, an advance that could help speed HIV vaccine research. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-scientists-tool-powerful-hiv-antibodies.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 09 May 2013 14:00:15 EST news287314999 (Medical Xpress)—Scientists have long believed that measuring the amount of HIV in a person's blood is an indicator of whether the virus is actively reproducing. A University of Delaware-led research team reports new evidence that hidden virus replication may be occurring within the body's tissue, despite undetectable virus levels in the blood. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-team-mathematical-hidden-hiv.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 08 May 2013 09:00:03 EST news287220884 Continuing analysis of an HIV vaccine trial undertaken in Thailand is yielding additional information about how immune responses were triggered and why the vaccine did not protect more people. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-antibodies-limited-hiv-vaccine-trial.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 06 May 2013 15:00:32 EST news287059115 HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is notorious for hiding within certain types of cells, where it reproduces at a slowed rate and eventually gives rise to chronic inflammation, despite drug therapy. But researchers at Temple University School of Medicine's Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Center for Substance Abuse Research (CSAR) recently discovered that synthetic anti-inflammatory substances distantly related to the active ingredient of marijuana may be able to take the punch out of HIV while inside one of its major hideouts – immune cells known as macrophages. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-scientists-weaken-hiv-infection-immune.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 01 May 2013 15:25:25 EST news286640718 The latest bad news in the hunt for an AIDS vaccine: The government halted a large U.S. study on Thursday, saying the experimental shots are not preventing HIV infection. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-hiv-vaccine-govt-halts.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 25 Apr 2013 14:00:28 EST news286117222 Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have discovered how the protein that blocks HIV-1 from multiplying in white blood cells is regulated. HIV-1 is the virus that causes AIDS, and the discovery could lead to novel approaches for addressing HIV-1 "in hiding" – namely eliminating reservoirs of HIV-1 that persist in patients undergoing antiretroviral therapy. The study was published today in the online edition of the journal Cell Host & Microbe. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-discovery-hiv-reservoirs.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:30:56 EST news285427845 HIV-infected women in sub-Saharan Africa who fed their babies exclusively with breast milk for more than the first four months of life had the lowest risk of transmitting the virus to their babies through breast milk, according to researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. Women who stopped breast feeding earlier than four months had the highest concentrations of HIV in their breast milk, and those who continued to breastfeed, but not exclusively, had concentration levels in-between the two practices. The findings are online in the journal Science Translational Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-hiv-infected-moms-breastfeed-exclusively-virus.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:00:02 EST news285423153 Circumcision drastically alters the microbiome of the penis, changes that could explain why circumcision offers protection against HIV and other viral infections. In a study to be published on April 16 in mBio, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, researchers studied the effects of adult male circumcision on the types of bacteria that live under the foreskin before and after circumcision. By one year post-procedure, the total bacterial load in that area had dropped significantly and the prevalence of anaerobic bacteria, which thrive in locations with limited oxygen, declined while the numbers of some aerobic bacteria increased slightly. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-circumcision-penis-microbiome-hiv.html HIV & AIDS Tue, 16 Apr 2013 00:00:04 EST news285246002 UCLA scientists have shown that temporarily blocking a protein critical to immune response actually helps the body clear itself of chronic infection. Published in the April 12 edition of Science, the finding suggests new approaches to treating persistent viral infections like HIV and hepatitis C. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-potential-therapy-hiv-blocking-key.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:39:07 EST news284913540 By tracking the very earliest days of one person's robust immune response to HIV, researchers have charted a new route for developing a long-sought vaccine that could boost the body's ability to neutralize the virus. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-potential-effective-hiv-vaccine.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 03 Apr 2013 13:16:45 EST news284213799 A new international study has confirmed that self-testing for HIV is effective and could be the answer to controlling the global epidemic. This major systematic review, led by the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC), shows HIV self-testing removes much of the fear and stigma associated with being tested for the disease. This study, which is published in PLoS Medicine is the first of its kind and could pave the way for early detection and treatment around the world, thereby reducing transmission. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-hiv-self-testing-key-global-epidemic.html HIV & AIDS Tue, 02 Apr 2013 17:28:24 EST news284142488 (Medical Xpress)—A new study by Los Alamos National Laboratory and University of Pennsylvania scientists defines previously unknown properties of transmitted HIV-1, the virus that causes AIDS. The viruses that successfully pass from a chronically infected person to a new individual are both remarkably resistant to a powerful initial human immune-response mechanism, and they are blanketed in a greater amount of envelope protein that helps them access and enter host cells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-deciphers-hiv.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 01 Apr 2013 09:38:43 EST news284027912 Human cells have an intrinsic capacity to destroy HIV. However, the virus has evolved to contain a gene that blocks this ability. When this gene is removed from the virus, the innate human immune system destroys HIV by mutating it to the point where it can no longer survive. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-innate-immune-hiv-viral-gene.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:00:03 EST news283707538 A team led by scientists from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) has unveiled a new technique for vaccine design that could be particularly useful against HIV and other fast-changing viruses. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-vaccine-design-approach-hiv-fast-mutating-viruses.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 28 Mar 2013 14:29:32 EST news283699766 An effective vaccine against HIV-1 remains elusive, but one promising strategy focuses on designer antibodies that have much broader potency than most normal, exquisitely specific antibodies. These broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) can handle the high mutation rate of HIV particles that makes normal, very specific antibodies useless within a short space of time. A study published by Cell Press on March 28th in the journal Cell reveals surprising mutations in these antibodies that are crucial for strong protection against HIV-1. The findings could guide efforts to design better HIV-1 vaccines. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-hiv-antibodies-worth.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 28 Mar 2013 12:29:53 EST news283692575 Decades of research and three large-scale clinical trials have so far failed to yield an effective HIV vaccine, in large part because the virus evolves so rapidly that it can evade any vaccine-induced immune response. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-hiv-vaccine.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 21 Mar 2013 14:44:52 EST news283095882 (Medical Xpress)—People with HIV have an elevated risk of heart attacks, diabetes and insulin problems. To compound matters, there are not many drug options to prevent those secondary problems because of concerns that they will weaken the immune system. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-diabetes-drug-safe-hiv-patients.html HIV & AIDS Fri, 15 Mar 2013 07:30:01 EST news282550475 A small French study of 14 HIV patients who have remained healthy for years after stopping drug treatment offers fresh evidence that early medical intervention may lead to a "functional cure" for AIDS, researchers said Thursday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-french-patients-hiv-bay-drugs.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 14 Mar 2013 17:09:00 EST news282499733 (Medical Xpress)—Nanoparticles carrying a toxin found in bee venom can destroy human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) while leaving surrounding cells unharmed, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown. The finding is an important step toward developing a vaginal gel that may prevent the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-nanoparticles-bee-venom-hiv.html HIV & AIDS Fri, 08 Mar 2013 08:20:29 EST news281953153 A study that analyzed data from more than 82,000 veterans suggests that infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was associated with an increased risk of acute myocardial infarction (AMI, heart attack) beyond what is explained by recognized risk factors, according to a report published Online First by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-hiv-infection-heart.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 04 Mar 2013 16:00:05 EST news281616075 A team of researchers from Johns Hopkins Children's Center, the University of Mississippi Medical Center and the University of Massachusetts Medical School describe the first case of a so-called "functional cure" in an HIV-infected infant. The finding, the investigators say, may help pave the way to eliminating HIV infection in children. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-functional-hiv-infant.html HIV & AIDS Sun, 03 Mar 2013 16:39:40 EST news281551169 Studying HIV-1, the most common and infectious HIV subtype, Johns Hopkins scientists have identified 25 human proteins "stolen" by the virus that may be critical to its ability to infect new cells. HIV-1 viruses capture many human proteins from the cells they infect but the researchers believe these 25 proteins may be particularly important because they are found in HIV-1 viruses coming from two very different types of infected cells. A report on the discovery, published online in the Journal of Proteome Research on Feb. 22, could help in building diagnostic tools and novel treatment strategies to fight HIV infection. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-hiv-disguises-human-proteins-crucial.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 27 Feb 2013 10:34:06 EST news281183636 The large antiretroviral treatment (ART) scale-up in a rural community in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, has led to a rapid and dramatic increase in population adult life expectancy—a gain of 11.3 years over eight calendar years (2004-2011)—and the benefit of providing ART far outweighs the cost, according to new research from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-scale-up-hiv-treatment-rural-south.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 21 Feb 2013 14:00:23 EST news280676191 A team of UCLA-led researchers has identified a protein with broad virus-fighting properties that potentially could be used as a weapon against deadly human pathogenic viruses such as HIV, Ebola, Rift Valley Fever, Nipah and others designated "priority pathogens" for national biosecurity purposes by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-newly-natural-protein-blocks-hiv.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 11 Feb 2013 15:42:15 EST news279819727 Studying infectious diseases has long been primarily the domain of biologists. However, as part of the Ragon Institute, MIT engineers and physical scientists are joining immunologists and physicians in the battle against HIV, which currently infects 34 million people worldwide. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-perspective-infectious-disease.html HIV & AIDS Fri, 08 Feb 2013 08:00:01 EST news279529842 HIV patients who participated in an intervention that helped them identify barriers to taking their drugs properly and develop customized coping strategies took a significantly greater amount of their prescribed doses than those receiving standard care, according to a new study from researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The results, published this week in JAMA Internal Medicine, may point to a new strategy to improve adherence to medications for many other conditions. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-personalized-barriers-hiv-drug-adherence.html HIV & AIDS Tue, 29 Jan 2013 11:57:23 EST news278683034 Viruses similar to those that cause AIDS in humans were present in non-human primates in Africa at least 5 million years ago and perhaps up to 12 million years ago, according to study published January 24 in the Open Access journal PLOS Pathogens by scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Until now, researchers have hypothesized that such viruses originated much more recently. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-hiv-like-viruses-non-human-primates-longer.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 24 Jan 2013 17:00:08 EST news278265450 Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine may have found an "Achilles heel" in a key HIV protein. In findings published online today in Chemistry and Biology, they showed that targeting this vulnerable spot could stop the virus from replicating, potentially thwarting HIV infection from progressing to full-blown AIDS. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-achilles-heel-key-hiv-replication.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 24 Jan 2013 12:00:09 EST news278249573