AIDS Weekly articles from May 1995

AIDS Weekly archives from May 1995

New drug disrupts "zipper" crucial to HIV-1 infectivity. (DP-178)
May 1, 1995... A novel synthetic peptide is the first of what may be a new class of anti-HIV agents that prevent the virus from entering cells. The finding may lead to new drugs and gene therapies for AIDS. The peptide, called DP-178, is an analog of a...

p24 antibodies linked to AIDS nonprogression.
May 1, 1995... The delay of clinical manifestations of AIDS in long-term asymptomatic HIV-positive persons may be related to the presence of high levels of p24-specific but not V3-specific antibodies, according to a report from the University of Amsterdam....

Ex vivo CD4+ cell death reduced in AIDS patients receiving retinoic acid.
May 1, 1995... CD4(+) T cells cultured from HIV(+) patients had reduced spontaneous cell death after they received all-trans-retinoic acid (tRA), report researchers from the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI). The findings indicate that tRA may affect what...

HIV+ homeless at greater risk for opportunistic infections.
May 1, 1995... Homeless persons with HIV infection were at greater risk for opportunistic infections than HIV-infected persons who had housing in a Boston cohort study, but no significant difference in survival between the two groups was seen. Little...

Test may help predict speed of HIV development.
May 1, 1995... A new test could help doctors predict how quickly people infected with HIV will develop the disease, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, researchers said. The test, reported in the April 15, 1995, issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine,...

Abdominal TB in HIV+ generally fatal. (tuberculosis)
May 1, 1995... Abdominal tuberculosis (TB) in HIV-infected patients is almost always a manifestation of disseminated disease and is generally fatal, according to a report from the University of Southern California. Abdominal TB is uncommon but important...

Biologist says humans could have been original host for HIV.
May 1, 1995... "Outbreak," the current hit movie about a monkey that infects residents of a California town with a newly-evolved lethal virus, has many similarities to the way most scientists believe HIV originated in primates and spread to humans. It makes...

AIDS-related fungal infections caused by cell defect.
May 1, 1995... An acquired cellular defect may explain why HIV-positive patients are prone to develop fungal infections and illnesses such as tuberculosis (TB). Scientists at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) in Houston, Texas, and Baylor College of...

Cytokine conference attracts hundreds of AIDS researchers.
May 1, 1995... AIDS researchers from around the world, including Professor Luc Montagnier from the Pasteur Institute and representatives from research teams directed by the U.S. AIDS researchers Robert Gallo and Anthony Fauci, gathered in Reims, France, March...

Human studies begin with HIV vaccine candidate. (HGP-30)
May 1, 1995... CEL-SCI Corporation, Alexandria, Virginia, and Alpha 1 Biomedicals Inc. announced the start of a new clinical study with the HIV vaccine candidate, HGP-30. The study will involve about 15 HIV-negative individuals who previously participated in...

KS therapy to presented to FDA. (Kaposi's sarcoma, DaunoXome)
May 1, 1995... NeXstar Pharmaceuticals Inc., Boulder, Colorado, announced that it has been scheduled to present data from its Phase III clinical trial with DaunoXome as a treatment for advanced Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) at the June 8-9, 1995, meeting of the U.S....

Promising new class of anti-HIV compounds presented. (PRO 2000)
May 1, 1995... Procept Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, announced the presentation of promising preclinical data on the ability of a lead drug candidate, PRO 2000, to inhibit infection of cells by many different forms (or isolates) of HIV-1. These data were...

Funeral homes reportedly refused to bury AIDS patient. (Greece)
May 1, 1995... Funeral homes in Greece's second-largest city reportedly refused to bury a man with AIDS who died of a drug overdose. Instead, the burial was done by his family and a priest. The 31-year-old man, and his wife, who also has AIDS, drew national...

Weak immune system foils prevention of AIDS-related disease.
May 1, 1995... A team led by scientists at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, says it has discovered why drug treatments to prevent a common AIDS-related disease may often fail. The investigators confirm that treatment to prevent...

Novel risk markers predict progression to AIDS.
May 1, 1995... A novel combination of risk markers for predicting progression to AIDS and survival in HIV-infected persons could serve as the basis for the development of true surrogate markers of disease progression, according to a multicenter report. The...

Fungemia more common in HIV+ children than documented.
May 1, 1995... Fungemia appears to be more common in HIV-infected children than has been previously documented, according to a report from the U.S. National Cancer Institute's Infectious Diseases Section. Severe oropharyngeal and esophageal candidiasis is...

CD4 percent best indicator of immune status in asplenic HIV-infected.
May 1, 1995... CD4 percentage appears to be a more accurate indicator of the immune status of asplenic HIV-infected patients with CD4 counts above 200 than CD4 cell count, according to a report from Pennsylvania's Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. In this...

Most thought to be TMP-SMZ intolerant can be desensitized. (trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole)
May 1, 1995... Most AIDS patients who are presumed to be trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMZ)-intolerant can be rapidly desensitized with oral TMP-SMZ and subsequently receive the drug for protracted periods as effective prophylaxis for Pneumocystis carinii...

Widening gaps between rich and poor pose global health threat.
May 1, 1995... Launching the World Health Report 1995 - Bridging the Gaps, World Health Organization's (WHO) Director-General Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima highlights widening gaps in health status between rich and poor, and in access to healthcare, and calls for...

HIV testing in BMT donors and recipients. (bone marrow transplant)(Research Report)
May 1, 1995... According to an abstract submitted by the author to the 21st Annual Meeting of the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation and the 11th Meeting of the Nurses Group, held March 19-23, 1995, in Davos, Switzerland, "A prospective postal...

Defective retroviruses as vaccine vectors.(Research Report)
May 1, 1995... According to an abstract submitted by the authors to the New York Academy of Sciences conference DNA Vaccines: A New Era in Vaccinology, held April 6-9, 1995, "Cellular immunity, particularly the cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response, plays an...

Cytotoxic T lymphocyte and helper T cell responses following HIV polynucleotide vaccination.(Research Report)
May 1, 1995... According to an abstract submitted by the authors to the New York Academy of Sciences conference DNA Vaccines: A New Era in Vaccinology, held April 6-9, 1995, "Expression vectors encoding either HIV-1 gp160/rev, gp120, or rev alone were used for...

Context-dependent peptide presentation.(Research Report)
May 1, 1995... According to an abstract submitted by authors to the Keystone Symposium Control and Manipulation of the Immune Response, held March 16-22, 1995, in Taos, New Mexico, "Helper T lymphocytes recognize antigenic peptides in association with class II...

Adoptive cell-mediated immunity to the purified protein derivative (PPD) of a mycobacterium tuberculosis in severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice.(Research Report)
May 1, 1995... According to an abstract submitted by authors to the Keystone Symposium Control and Manipulation of the Immune Response, held March 16-22, 1995, in Taos, New Mexico, "The immunocompetent C.B-17+/+ (C.B-17) inbred mouse strain possesses normal...

Loss of CD28 expression is associated with replicative senescence of T cells in vitro and in vivo.(Research Report)
May 1, 1995... According to an abstract submitted by authors to the Keystone Symposium Control and Manipulation of the Immune Response, held March 16-22, 1995, in Taos, New Mexico, "The immune deficiency of aging is characterized by a dramatic decline in...

Neutralizing antibodies against highly cytopathic Zairian human immunodeficiency type-1 virus (HIV-1) NDK are present in sera outside Africa. (reprinted from Vaccine, February 1995)(Periodical Report)(Abstract)
May 1, 1995... According to the authors' abstract of an article published in Vaccine, "The prototype virus HIV-1 LAV and highly cytopathic Zairian virus HIV-1 NDK belong to the genetic subtypes B and D and represent low and highly cytopathic phenotypes,...

Evidence of a selective depletion of a CD16+ CD56+ CD8+ natural killer cell subset during HIV infection. (reprinted from Cytometry, March 15, 1995)(Periodical Report)(Abstract)
May 1, 1995... According to the authors' abstract of an article published in Cytometry, "Three-color flow cytometric analysis of CD16(+) natural killer (NK) cells was assessed in HIV seropositive patients and healthy heterosexual controls. A selective depletion...

Inflammatory cytokines induce AIDS Kaposi's sarcoma-derived spindle cells to produce and release basic fibroblast growth factor and enhance Kaposi's sarcoma-like lesion formation in nude mice. (reprinted from the Journal of Immunology, April 1, 1995)(Periodical Report)(Abstract)
May 1, 1995... According to the authors' abstract of an article published in Journal of Immunology, "Homosexual males often present signs of immune activation and are likely to have increased levels of inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1 beta, TNF-alpha, and...

AIDS-risk among street children and youth; implications for intervention. (reprinted from the South African Journal of Psychology - Suid - Afrikaanse Tydskrif Vir Sielkunde, March 1995)(Periodical Report)(Abstract)
May 1, 1995... According to the authors' abstract of an article published in South African Journal of Psychology, "With the co-operation of staff and volunteers from non-governmental programmes in nine South African cities, focus group discussions were held...

In vitro evidence for a dual role of tumor necrosis factor-alpha in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 encephalopathy. (reprinted from the Annals of Neurology, March 1995)(Periodical Report)(Abstract)
May 1, 1995... According to the authors' abstract of an article published in Annals of Neurology, "Microglial cell activation, myelin alteration, and abundant tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha message have been observed in the brains of some human...

The use of a nested polymerase chain reaction for detecting Pneumocystis carinii from lung and blood in rat and human infection. (reprinted from the Journal of Medical Microbiology, March 1995)(Periodical Report)(Abstract)
May 1, 1995... According to the authors' abstract of an article published in Journal of Medical Microbiology, "A nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay was developed to detect both rat- and human-derived Pneumocystis carinii DNA. The nested PCR product...

Use of saliva as an alternative to serum for HIV screening in Africa. (reprinted from the South African Medical Journal, March 1995)(Periodical Report)(Abstract)
May 1, 1995... According to the authors' abstract of an article published in South African Medical Journal, "Saliva has been recommended as a safe and effective alternative to serum for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for HIV antibodies in...

Formulation development of an oral dosage form for an HIV protease inhibitor, AG1284. (reprinted from the International Journal of Pharmaceutics, April 18, 1995)(Periodical Report)(Abstract)
May 1, 1995... According to the authors' abstract of an article published in International Journal of Pharmaceutics, "Several preformulation characteristics of a series of novel HIV protease inhibitors were examined as a prelude to expedient oral dosage form...

Researchers report dual HIV-1 infection.
May 8, 1995... Researchers from Washington, D.C.'s Walter Reed Army Institute report the first evidence of dual HIV-1 infection in humans. These findings may have significant implications for the development of an HIV vaccine. The immunologic relevance of...

New findings imply RU486 could inhibit HIV replication.
May 8, 1995... The abortifacient drug mifepristone - better known as RU486 - could inhibit HIV replication, according to a University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, research team. Researchers Yosef Refaeli, David N. Levy and David B. Weiner reported in the...

Visna/lamb model proposed for testing anti-HIV drugs. (visna virus)
May 8, 1995... Lambs experimentally infected with visna virus could be used to test candidate HIV drugs for their ability to prevent HIV-associated neurological disorders, according to researchers from the University of Iceland and Belgium's Rega Institute....

Transgenic plants produce immunogenic hepatitis B antigen.
May 8, 1995... Getting vaccinated may one day be as simple as eating your vegetables, and recent experiments show that such a day may be coming soon. Researchers at New York's Roswell Park Cancer Institute and Texas A&M University report that hepatitis B...

Coccidioidomycosis not restricted to Southwestern U.S.
May 8, 1995... Disseminated coccidioidomycosis is a problem in AIDS patients throughout the United States, and should be considered in diagnosis, according to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report. Coccidiodomycosis, a disease caused...

Virus may lead to dementia in AIDS patients. (human herpes virus 6)
May 8, 1995... A common herpes virus that harmlessly infects 90 percent of the population may attack the brain of AIDS patients and bring on dementia in some of them, Medical College of Wisconsin researchers say. Konstance Kohl Knox, a senior research...

HIV gp41 peptide vital to immune dysfunction.
May 8, 1995... HIV gp41 appears to contribute to the in vivo immunosuppression and immune dysfunction of HIV-infected persons, according to a report from the University of California at Los Angeles. The results of this study could have implications in the...

Trial begins with protease inhibitor for HIV.
May 8, 1995... Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Kissei Pharmaceutical Company Ltd., Matsumoto-City, Japan, announced that a Phase I clinical trial has begun in Japan with VX-478, a novel, orally administered protease inhibitor...

Drug that prevents vaginal transmission of SIV announced. (Lidakol, simian immunodeficiency virus)
May 8, 1995... Lidak Pharmaceuticals, La Jolla, California, and collaborators at the University of California (UC), Davis, presented results at the Eighth International Conference for Antiviral Research, held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, April 25, 1995, indicating...

GS 840 data presented. (Gilead Sciences Inc.)
May 8, 1995... Gilead Sciences Inc., Foster City, California, announced the presentation of results from its first Phase I/II placebo-controlled human clinical study of GS 840 in patients with HIV infection. These data demonstrate that GS 840, when...

Second generation of AIDS candidate vaccines developed.
May 8, 1995... Results from volunteers who have reached the 24-month follow-up point in a clinical trial of Immuno rgp160, an experimental AIDS vaccine, demonstrate that the vaccine confers excellent immunogenicity, Dr. Martha Eibl, director of Immuno's AIDS...

Threat of HIV not affecting practices of unwed mothers.
May 8, 1995... The threat of contracting HIV doesn't seem to have led to safer sexual practices among unmarried women seeking child support in Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, officials say. Because HIV can be spread through sexual contact, health officials...

Global workplace confronts AIDS epidemic.
May 8, 1995... In developing nations around the world, necessity is forcing business' private sector to develop policies and programs for dealing with HIV and AIDS in the workforce, according to the spring 1995 issue of AIDScaptions, a magazine published by the...

Circulating immune complexes encourage infections.
May 8, 1995... High levels of circulating immune complexes, found predominantly in the later stages of HIV infection, may be particularly instrumental in reducing monocyte capacity to maintain surveillance against infection, according to a report from the...

Officials issue water warning. (parasite in Fremont, Union City, and Newark, California water supply)
May 8, 1995... Public health doctors in three San Francisco Bay, California, area counties are being urged by the state to find out if anyone has become sick from a parasite that showed up in drinking water in March 1995. The parasite was detected in March...

Oral ganciclovir promising in prophylaxis of CMV. (cytomegalovirus infections)
May 8, 1995... Recent advances in preventing cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections with oral ganciclovir suggest that it may soon be practical to prevent a host of CMV-related opportunistic infections in patients with AIDS, according to a review by a noted AIDS...

Tuberculous pancreatic abscess seen in AIDS patients.
May 8, 1995... Tuberculous pancreatic abscess should be considered in the differential diagnosis for HIV-infected patients with computed tomography (CT)-identified mass lesion. Tuberculosis (TB) is often the first manifestation of HIV infection, typically...

Nine new drugs available for low-income HIV patients.
May 8, 1995... New Jersey has added nine additional medications to its AIDS Drug Distribution Program, Health Commissioner Len Fishman said. Fishman said the additional drugs will significantly help low-income individuals with HIV. The new medications, which...

Dronabinol effective in reducing AIDS-related anorexia.
May 8, 1995... Dronabinol is a safe and effective treatment for anorexia in patients with weight loss due to AIDS, according to a multicenter study. The report by Jeffrey E. Beal and colleagues notes that a longer-term study of dronabinol is now underway to...

Anti-M. tuberculosis antibodies in HIV-TB. (Mycobacterium tuberculosis)(Research Report)
May 8, 1995... According to an abstract presented by the authors to the Molecular Mechanisms in Tuberculosis Keystone Symposium, held February 19-25, 1995, in Tamarron, Colorado, "HIV infected individuals are at a significantly higher risk of reactivating...

Pulmonary disease in HIV infection: the changing spectrum.(Research Report)
May 8, 1995... According to an abstract submitted by the authors to the 95th Annual Meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society, held April 30-May 5, 1995, in Washington, DC, "PURPOSE: To categorically exhibit chest disorders in HIV infection using...

A tuberculosis outbreak in Cuba with a drug-sensitive strain also found in New York City.(Research Report)
May 8, 1995... According to an abstract presented by the authors to the Molecular Mechanisms in Tuberculosis Keystone Symposium, held February 19-25, 1995, in Tamarron, Colorado, "In contrast with most of the world, Cuba's tuberculosis (TB) rates have declined...

Nucleic acid vaccination with HIV regulatory genes.(Research Report)
May 8, 1995... According to an abstract submitted by the authors to the New York Academy of Sciences conference DNA Vaccines: A New Era in Vaccinology, held April 6-9, 1995, "We aim to induce protective immunity to HIV infection by immunization with regulatory...

Simian immunodeficiency virus DNA vaccine trial in macaques.(Research Report)
May 8, 1995... According to an abstract submitted by the authors to the New York Academy of Sciences conference DNA Vaccines: A New Era in Vaccinology, held April 6-9, 1995, "A mixture of five DNAs expressing simian immunodeficiency virus macaque (SIVmac)...

HIV V3 peptide conjugated to Brucella abortus is immunogenic in CD4+ T cell deficient mice.(Research Report)
May 8, 1995... According to an abstract submitted by the authors to the Annual Meeting of Professional Research Scientists entitled Experimental Biology 95, held April 9-13, 1995, in Atlanta, Georgia, "HIV infection is associated with loss of CD4(+) T cell...

Restriction of clonal heterogeneity and maternal imprinting of B cells in the baby's immune response against HIV-1.(Research Report)
May 8, 1995... According to an abstract submitted by the authors to the Annual Meeting of Professional Research Scientists entitled Experimental Biology 95, held April 9-13, 1995, in Atlanta, Georgia, "In order to study the role of antibody formation to HIV and...

Variable region gene usage of mouse monoclonal antibodies specific for the transmembrane glycoprotein of the human immunodeficiency virus.(Research Report)
May 8, 1995... According to an abstract submitted by the authors to the Annual Meeting of Professional Research Scientists entitled Experimental Biology 95, held April 9-13, 1995, in Atlanta, Georgia, "Results from several studies suggest that the human...

Rates of HIV disease progression (DP) and mortality (MT) in women and men: the Terry Beirn Community Programs for Clinical Research on AIDS (CPCRA).(Research Report)
May 8, 1995... According to an abstract submitted by the authors to the conference on HIV Infection in Women: Setting a New Agenda, held February 22-24, 1995, in Washington, D.C., "OBJECTIVE: To compare women (WM) and men (MN) in 17 community-based centers....

Infection of gamma/delta T lymphocytes by human herpesvirus 6: transcriptional induction of CD4 and susceptibility to HIV infection. (reprinted from the Journal of Experimental Medicine, April 1, 1995)(Periodical Report)(Abstract)
May 8, 1995... According to the authors' abstract of an article published in Journal of Experimental Medicine, "Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6), a T-lymphotropic human herpesvirus, is a potentially immunosuppressive agent that has been suggested to play a role as a...

Inhibition of human immunodeficiency virus expression by sense transcripts encoding the retroviral leader RNA. (reprinted from Antiviral Research, March 1995)(Periodical Report)(Abstract)
May 8, 1995... According to the authors' abstract of an article published in Antiviral Research, "Towards gene therapy for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infections, we tested the potency of several antiviral constructs in...

Is alcohol consumption a cofactor in the development of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome? (reprinted from Alcohol, March-April 1995)(Periodical Report)(Abstract)
May 8, 1995... According to the authors' abstract of an article published in Alcohol, "Excessive alcohol (EtOH) consumption and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) are two major public health problems in the United States. Overwhelming evidence is...

Elevated serum levels of soluble CD23 (sCD23) precede the appearance of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-associated non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. (reprinted from Blood, April 1, 1995)(Periodical Report)(Abstract)
May 8, 1995... According to the authors' abstract of an article published in Blood, "Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection-associated B-cell hyperstimulation, in particular, the chronic stimulation of B cells to undergo isotype switching, may play an...

Trimetrexate: a review of its pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties and therapeutic potential in the treatment of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. (reprinted from Drugs, April 1995)(Periodical Report)(Abstract)
May 8, 1995... According to the authors' abstract of an article published in Drugs, "Trimetrexate is a folinic acid analogue structurally related to methotrexate, whose primary mechanism of action is believed to be inhibition of dihydrofolate reductase. This...

Potentiation of anti-HIV activity of anti-inflammatory drugs, dexamethasone and indomethacin, by MAP30, the antiviral agent for bitter melon. (reprinted from Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, March 17, 1995)(Periodical Report)(Abstract)
May 8, 1995... According to the authors' abstract of an article published in Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, "MAP30 is an antiviral protein from bitter melon (Momordica charantia). The enhancement of weak HIV antagonists, dexamethasone and...

A rapid, direct test for zidovudine susceptibility in clinical isolates of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) from infected children. (reprinted from Clinical and Diagnostic Virology, March 1995)(Periodical Report)(Abstract)
May 8, 1995... According to the authors' abstract of an article published in Clinical and Diagnostic Virology, "BACKGROUND: Existing phenotypic tests of antiretroviral susceptibility in clinical isolates of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are expensive and...

Neutrophils from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-seronegative donors induce HIV replication from HIV-infected patients' mononuclear cells and cell lines: an in vitro model of HIV transmission facilitated by Chlamydia trachomatis. (reprinted from the Journal of Experimental Medicine, April 1, 1995)(Periodical Report)(Abstract)
May 8, 1995... According to the authors' abstract of an article published in Journal of Experimental Medicine, "Infection with a sexually transmitted disease (STD) increases the risk for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Polymorphonuclear...

Recombination in AIDS viruses. (reprinted from the Journal of Molecular Evolution, March 1995)(Periodical Report)(Abstract)
May 8, 1995... According to the authors' abstract of an article published in Journal of Molecular Evolution, "Recombination contributes to the generation of genetic diversity in human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) but can only occur between viruses replicating...

Mother-to-child HIV occurs late in pregnancy.
May 15, 1995... The frequency of early in utero HIV infection appears to be low, compared with transmission rates in infants born to HIV-1-infected mothers, suggesting that transmission occurs mostly later in pregnancy or at delivery, according to a report from...

Specific risk factors associated with extrapulmonary TB. (tuberculosis)
May 15, 1995... Factors such as injecting drug use, prison record or residence in high TB-endemic areas are associated with extrapulmonary presentation in AIDS patients with tuberculosis. In 1987 the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)...

Plastic condoms fail bedroom test. (Avanti condoms)
May 15, 1995... A plastic condom approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been sent back for more testing. The condom, which is recommended only for people who are allergic to latex, was approved for sale by the FDA in 1991, but new data...

HPLC with fluorescence identifies M. tuberculosis. (high-performance liquid chromatography, Mycobacterium tuberculosis)
May 15, 1995... Texas researchers report the identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium avium complex directly from smear-positive sputum specimens and BACTEC 12B cultures by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection...

15 percent of HIV-infected men will be long-term survivors.
May 15, 1995... HIV-infected individuals whose CD4(+) T-cell counts do not decline in the first years of infection are very likely to be long-term survivors, according to a new analysis of data from the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS). The analysis...

HIV isolates sensitive to IFN early in infection. (interferon)
May 15, 1995... Before progression to AIDS primary isolates of HIV-1 are sensitive to inhibition with interferon-(alpha), suggesting that interferon therapy can be effective in decreasing viral load, according to a report from Baltimore's Johns Hopkins...

Leader region of HIV-1 genomic RNA inhibits HIV-1 expression.
May 15, 1995... Regarding potential gene therapy for the treatment of HIV-1 infections, researchers from The Netherlands suggested that leader-encoded functions can be used to inhibit HIV expression. Ben Berkhout and Jeroen L.B. van Wamel, University of...

More females becoming infected with HIV.
May 15, 1995... Increasingly, the faces of AIDS in Arkansas belong to women and teenage girls. Nearly a quarter of Arkansas' newly diagnosed HIV-positive patients are women, representing a "very sad, alarming increase" in the spread of HIV among...

Study with HGP--30 AIDS vaccine moves into phase I/II.
May 15, 1995... CEL-SCI Corporation, Alexandria, Virginia, "is now undertaking the second segment of a clinical study with our potential AIDS vaccine, HGP-30, whereby we will revaccinate about 15 HIV-negative individuals who were injected three to four years ago...

Results from anti-HIV drug AG1343 study reported.
May 15, 1995... Agouron Pharmaceuticals Inc., La Jolla, California, reported encouraging preliminary results from a pilot Phase II clinical study of the company's anti-HIV drug AG1343. At a meeting of the International Society of Antiviral Research in Santa...

FDA approval for herpes simplex virus diagnostic test. (Enzyme Linked Virus Inducible System HSV Test Kit)
May 15, 1995... Diagnostic Hybrids Inc. (DHI), Athens, Ohio, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved for marketing its Enzyme Linked Virus Inducible System (ELVIS) HSV Test Kit for in vitro diagnostic use in identification of...

Placental hormone may help treat KS. (Kaposi's sarcoma)
May 15, 1995... A hormone found in pregnant women may be useful for treating Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), researchers report. The hormone killed KS cells in the laboratory, and in mice it shrank tumors caused by injections of KS cells, Dr. Robert Gallo said....

AIDS patients with Mac may be infected with different strains. (Mycobacterium avium)
May 15, 1995... AIDS patients with polyclonal Mycobacterium avium infection may be infected simultaneously with strains that differ significantly in their antimicrobial susceptibilities. Organisms of the Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) are the most common...

Unclear whether prophylaxis or treatment better for MAC. (Mycobacterium avium complex)
May 15, 1995... It remains unclear whether prophylaxis is preferable to active surveillance and aggressive treatment of early infection in AIDS patients with Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC), according to a review by a Vanderbilt University researcher....