A possible cure for HIV has been discovered by American researchers.
TRIM5-alpha makes one think of TrimSpa, the appetite suppressant—just one of the medicinal upsides of the Hoodia gordonii plant. TRIM5a, however, is no magic pill but it is a protein that has been found to absolutely annihilate the HIV virus in Rhesus monkey cultures. Loyola researchers believe that the protein should do the same in the HIV strain present in humans. Bono should be excited as well.
The research team, led by Edward M. Campbell, Ph.D, used a $225,000 piece of equipment called a wide-field “deconvolution” microscope, slid a culture of HIV beneath its lens, attached proteins colored with fluorescent particles to make the TRIM5a cultures effectively glow and observed the results. What they saw was stunning: six previously identified amino acids—out of 500—were working in unison to inhibit the virus.
How exactly does the TRIM5a protein kill HIV? TRIM5a latches onto HIV and then unleashes its various constituent amino acids, which, like a frenzied mob, devastate the retrovirus. Think of it as a Trojan Horse with the protein acting as the horse and the amino acids as the pillaging Greeks hidden inside.
The researchers found the amino acids in a rarely studied area of the TRIM5a protein. Apparently, through human evolution, the inhibitive potential of the protein was essentially shut off and TRIM5a could no longer fight HIV in human cells. It makes one wonder if gene therapy might one day be able to turn back on the protein’s innate ability to destroy viruses.
For now, the hope is that researchers will be able to isolate one amino acid or combination that could destroy HIV, and then engineer a TRIM5a protein that would be effective in humans. Naturally, pharmaceutical corporations will waste no time in researching ways to mimic the protein and profit on their investment.
Perhaps it’s too early to be raising questions of the money to be made off of TRIM5a’s therapeutic potential. Rest assured, though, that systems are already in place that will bring a financial windfall to the pharmaceutical industry and corrupt Third World nations. It behooves us as a civilization to explore alternative systems to finance and distribute any antiviral therapies that come of Loyola’s TRIM5a breakthrough.
Look for a full article in the September 15th issue of the journal Virology, which is available online.
August 25, 2010 at 7:37 pm, ITHP.ORG said:
The only interview in the world with the senior researcher in charge of this project (Edward M. Campbell, Ph.D) is on ITHP. The interview is from yesterday and it is about his recent discovery!! Here's the link!
http://ithp.org/articles/hivinterview.html