Vaccines and low daily doses of interleukin 2 may hold key to cure.(Brief Article)

2002 APR 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new clinical trial testing an HIV vaccine together with low daily doses of interleukin 2 (IL2) - led by Dr. Kendall Smith, chief of immunology in the department of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College - is designed to determine whether it is possible to achieve control of HIV by enhancing the body's immunity to the virus.

Smith's team has previously shown that low daily doses of the T cell growth factor IL2 can result in accelerated improvement of the immune system when given to individuals with chronic HIV infection. Now, the team is testing whether it is possible to generate protective immunity to HIV, so that antiviral drugs will no longer be necessary.

Dr. Smith and his research team discovered the IL2 molecule and IL2 receptors more than 20 years ago, and since then, the team has pioneered studies that have determined how IL2 functions as a growth factor for T lymphocytes and natural killer (NK) cells, the principal cells known to fight viral infections.

Based on the team's studies of the way IL2 interacts with its receptor, the Weill Cornell researchers initiated clinical trials in 1994. Their initial phase I dose-finding/safety studies in 16 individuals established low doses of IL2 that are safe and nontoxic, even when given daily for several months.

They then extended their experience to 40 individuals with moderate immune system damage. This research demonstrated that low doses of IL2 could be given daily for as long as a year, resulting in an increase in NK cells, and the accelerated recovery of the numbers of circulating CD4[superscript]+ T cells, which are the cells of the immune system that are destroyed by HIV.

On the basis of these findings, in 1998 they ...