Researchers Made HIV Breakthrough With Existing FDA-Approved Meds

[WillParkinson]

Researchers Made HIV Breakthrough With Existing FDA-Approved Meds

Scientists at the University of Minnesota believe that two existing FDA-approved cancer medications may work jointly to eliminate HIV infections.

The two drugs, decitabine and gemcitabine -- both FDA approved and currently used in pre-cancer and cancer therapy -- were found to eliminate HIV infection in the mouse model by causing the virus to mutate itself to death -- an outcome researchers dubbed "lethal mutagenesis." This is a landmark finding in HIV research because it is the first time this novel approach has been used to attack the deadly virus without causing toxic side effects. Because decitabine and gemcitabine are already FDA approved, researchers believe that if their research is effective in large animal models, it will be much easier to expedite the development of the drugs for human use.

Researchers found that the drugs caused no cell toxicity and were effective against HIV in levels below "well below" those used for cancer. The drugs are now being reformulated for oral use.

http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2010/08/researchers-made-hiv-breakthrough-with.html

[DCKit]

1. This is Hugh. n/t

[closeupready]

2. Great news, but not all that surprising that an existing substance

is discovered to have novel uses, or has a causative effect for certain medical conditions. K&R

[xchrom]

3. Recommend - hope it works. Nt

[foxfeet]

4. Good news! I hope it pans out for use in humans.

[qb]

5. K&R

[pinto]

6. Kick

:kick:

[joeybee12]

7. KNR!

[thereismore]

8. Mice do not get HIV. The mouse "model" is light years away from human. Not very hopeful here. nt

[Occulus]

9. There's a really good entry in the comments section

mcc replies:
2 days ago, 12:47:11 PM
“Poking around a little bit...

Apparently "lethal mutagenesis" actually is an idea that's been around for a while, someone named "LA Loeb" studied it in 1999. I don't know why it hasn't been put into practice until now (ie, is it because it's difficult to find a compound that triggers it, or is there a problem with the idea?). There's a survey article from 2005 here that would be very interesting to read, and there's an article about the research from this month here that goes into some more detail. Some quotes from these that seem key:

"“HIV’s ability to mutate makes it difficult to target and treat,” asserted Louis Mansky, PhD, from the University of Minnesota (UM), in an announcement about his study. “We wanted to take advantage of this behavior by stimulating HIV’s mutation rate, essentially using the virus as a weapon against itself.”"

"HIV-1 and other retroviruses exhibit mutation rates that are 1,000,000-fold greater than their host organisms. Error-prone viral replication may place retroviruses and other RNA viruses near the threshold of "error catastrophe" or extinction due to an intolerable load of deleterious mutations"

Basically the theory seems to be, HIV (since it's a retrovirus?) already mutates at an absolutely ridiculous rate, so turning up the mutation rate doesn't make it any worse. Instead since it's already skirting so close to the line of "mutating as fast as it's possible safely to mutate", turning up the mutation rate a little (not enough to make any difference to the human host, even if the host is effected) just makes it lose the ability to reproduce at all.

[Evasporque]

10. K&R!