New drug could halt spreading of HIV

A newly discovered drug might someday soon lead to the prevention of the spreading of HIV in humans.

The drug, which was applied to the vaginal surface of monkeys 15 minutes before exposure to the immunodeficiency virus simian HIV, has yet to be tested on humans.

A group of scientists, led by Ronald Veazey from the Tulane National Primate Research Center, reported that the drug protected the animals from infection.

The findings were released in this month's Science journal in an article written by a team led by Dr. Michael Lederman, a professor of medicine at Case Western Reserve University and director of the Case Western Reserve University/University Hospitals of Cleveland Center for AIDS Research.

These experimental findings have potentially important implications for understanding vaginal transmission of HIV and its prevention.

"Treatment and prevention are complementary activities," said Dr. Myron Cohen, a professor of medicine at UNC, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and director of the Center for Infectious Diseases. "Women are at grave risk across the world for acquiring HIV from male sexual partners.

"A product that women could use and that she could acquire herself (to protect against HIV) is an absolute commitment (to the cause of prevention)."

Experts say they are not sure when they will begin human testing.

"There is a number of steps to go from this stage to a human stage. It may be a few years," said George Stamatis, director of medical public affairs at CWRU.

Even without the promise of an immediate release to the human population, researchers say this breakthrough is extremely important for AIDS research.

"We have identified a key target for strategies to prevent vaginal HIV transmission and have a candidate molecule that blocks this target," Lederman said in an Oct. 15 press release from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

"There is a real need for a topical HIV prevention strategy that women can control. This is particularly important in settings where men won't necessarily use condoms."

Nearly 38 million people worldwide are living with HIV. Almost half of them are women, and half of new infections occur in people between the ages of 15 and 24.

About 850,000 to 950,000 people in the United States, compared with 800,000 to 900,000 in 2001, currently are living with HIV or AIDS.

But researchers recognize creating a topical agent from a candidate molecule that will effectively prevent transmission of HIV will require the resolution of many difficult issues.

The AAAS press release states that the required drug dosage is one factor that must be better understood and reduced before it is available to consumers.

Also, researchers did not test the drug's ability to protect against transmission of SHIV contained within infected donor cells, a mechanism of uncertain importance in HIV acquisition.

But medical experts say that, even though this new discovery is not yet fail-safe for human use and distribution, it still is a major breakthrough and will someday affect the human population.

"This article puts further faith in the probability that we can develop a product for this in the next 10 years, or possibly even quicker," Cohen said.

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.