Stimulating Innate Human Immune System May Halt Disease Progression.(Brief Article)

2001 SEP 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) --

New laboratory findings could lead to an antibody-based medication that prevents or attenuates the progression of HIV to AIDS.

This research advance is based on new insights into the emerging area of innate human immunity and pioneers the use of human umbilical cord blood to isolate cells to produce human monoclonal antibodies for use in human therapeutics.

"Although more work needs to be done to refine this laboratory model and explore ways to make a human therapeutic agent, there is a strong potential for efficacy with little or no obvious potential for side effects and a readily available and stable supply," said Dr. Toby C. Rodman, study author.

The research was supported by a grant from the Institute for Human Genetics and Biochemistry in Geneva, Switzerland and was published in the August 2001 issue of the journal Experimental Hematology ("Circulating natural IgM antibodies and their corresponding human cord blood cell-derived Mabs specifically combat the Tat protein of HIV"). The article culminates and extends more than 15 years of research by Rodman and her team. Rodman is a professor emeritus at Cornell University Medical College, New York.

The conclusions presented in the research include:

* Evidence that IgM antibodies specifically reactive with the HIV Tat protein are innate human immune factors capable of restriction of specific mechanisms of HIV pathogenicity attributed to the Tat protein.