The Cure for AIDS is… Lupus?
July 16, 2008 by Jayvee Fernandez
Filed under Computers
Researchers at the University of Texas Medical School believe they may have found a weak point in the human immunodeficiency virus.
HIV is invulnerable to vaccines because its envelope is always mutating. As such, antibodies cannot attach to it. However, the virus does require one part of its envelope to remain constant in order to attach to host cells.
That constant part, a tiny stretch of amino acids numbered 421-433 on envelope protein gp120, is the part that silences antibody-producing cells. The victim’s body thus continuously produces antibodies for the changing parts of the envelope, but not the constant part.
The researchers are now testing abzymes to attack just that constant part. The next step: human clinical trials.
The required abzymes occur naturally in patients with lupus. So the cure for AIDS is… lupus?
(Via Science Daily.)
My mother has lupus. She is a rare case in that she has the type of lupus usually found in men. She also tested positive for the enzymes needed for the cure. We are very excited. Yes, lupus will kill her. I grew up knowing this. But now… maybe all her suffering won’t be in vain…