HIV vaccine, progress
Studies to produce a vaccine against HIV continue, and could soon lead to truly, truly decisive turning points.
Search Results for: Virus
Gene therapy cures “bubble babies”
There is new hope for the so-called "bubble children", those children affected by ADA-SCID, a very serious and rare form of hereditary immunodeficiency that makes them easy prey to viruses and bacteria. There is a new treatment method, obtained by modifying patients' stem cells through the insertion of the gene responsible for the disease, revised and corrected. An achievement, called gene therapy, which will allow these children to live in the real world, outside the bubble that protects them day and night. Luigi Naldini, director … Read more
AIDS, Luca Pani predicts turning points in the coming years
AIDS has always been considered an untreatable disease, perhaps to be kept under control, but impossible to cure completely. From today, something could change. “There is a serious possibility that within the next three to five years, HIV patients will become negative, even becoming non-contagious with relatively light therapies.” It is an important step forward to avoid new infections. The news was given by Luca Pani, Director General of the Italian Medicines Agency (Aifa). It is one of the most striking news in relation to the fight… Read more
CEO of a startup tries out treatments to stop aging
Elizabeth Parrish, the 44-year-old head of BioViva, a biotechnology startup, said she started gene therapy on herself last month in an undisclosed location: the goal is to directly test solutions that will become cures for Alzheimer's and muscle loss. Parrish said in an online interview Sunday that she underwent two forms of gene therapy after contracting with a lab… Read more
HIV has been eradicated in monkeys
In an article published last week in Nature the extraordinary results of research conducted by two different laboratories. A mixture of HIV type 1 monoclonal antibodies is capable of eliminating the AIDS virus from the bodies of primates in just 3 days without leaving a trace. The protagonist of the undertaking is the N332-glycan-dependent monoclonal antibody PGT121 mAb which is the main proponent of a very rapid decay of virus levels even in long-infected primates. No yes… Read more
What is life? Venter promises a new human evolution
“What is life?” asks Craig Venter, the man who first mapped the human genome and created the first cell with a synthetic genome. “Just 3 letters are enough to compose a universe of questions still unanswered. What separates the animate from the inanimate? What are the basic ingredients of life? Who lit the first spark? How did the first organism evolve? How extensive is life in the universe? If other types of creatures exist on other planets, they are intelligent… Read more
Blood nanorobot to treat infections and tumors
This is the case of "nanobots" or microscopic machines (about 50 nanometers in size) that science fiction had imagined in the Star Trek series and which, injected into a patient's circulation, went there to rebuild damaged tissues, eliminate pathogens such as viruses and resistant bacteria or even eradicate a cancer. Unfortunately, the economic factor often stops the ideas and drive towards innovation of motivated researchers: no one puts in the money and the research remains on paper. … Read more
