Has BYU prof found AIDS cure?
Has BYU prof found AIDS cure?
Compound could be long-sought breakthrough
Salt Lake Tribune - 2/06/2006
Researchers, including a BYU scientist, believe they have found
a new compound that could finally kill the HIV/AIDS virus, not
just slow it down as current treatments do.
Unlike the expensive, drug cocktails 25 years of research have
produced for those with the deadly virus, the compound invented
by Paul D. Savage of Brigham Young University appears to hunt
down and kill HIV.
Although so far limited to early test tube studies, CSA-54, one
of a family of compounds called Ceragenins (or CSAs), mimics the
disease-fighting characteristics of anti-microbial and
anti-viral agents produced naturally by a healthy human immune
system. Under a study sponsored by Ceragenix Pharmaceuticals,
Savage and his colleagues developed and synthesized the compound
for Vanderbilt University's School of Medicine. In his
Nashville, Tenn., laboratories, Derya Unutmaz, an associate
professor of Microbiology and Immunology, tested several CSAs
for their ability to kill HIV. While issuing a cautious caveat
about his early results, Unutmaz acknowledged Monday that CSAs
could be the breakthrough HIV/AIDS researchers have sought for
so long.
"We received these agents [from BYU] in early October and our
initial results began to culminate by November 2005. We have
since reproduced all our results many times," he said. "We have
some preliminary but very exciting results [but] we would like
to formally show this before making any claims that would cause
unwanted hype." What studies to date show is a compound that
attacks HIV at its molecular membrane level, disrupting the
virus from interacting with their primary targets, the
"T-helper" class white blood cells that comprise and direct the
human immune system. Further, CSAs appear to be deadly to all
known strains of HIV.
That would be a welcome development for the estimated 40.3
million people now living with HIV/AIDS globally, including
nearly 5 million newly infected in the past year alone.
"We have devoted considerable resources to understand the
mechanism of these compounds. We think this knowledge will
enable us in collaboration with Dr. Savage to design even better
compounds," Unutmaz said.
In addition to being a potential checkmate to HIV, the
compounds show indications of being just as effective against
other diseases plaguing humankind - among them influenza,
possibly even the dread bird flu, along with smallpox and
herpes.
Savage said he and his BYU research team had been studying CSAs
for eight years, noting the compounds' value against microbial
and bacteria infections. It was only a year ago they saw that
CSAs killed viruses, too.
"They kill viruses very effectively and in a way paralleling
our own, natural defenses," Savage said, noting that beyond the
obvious use as a weapon against the AIDS pandemic, CSAs could
help many others with non-HIV immune deficiencies.
Further, the compounds appear to have few limits on how they
are delivered to patients. Although early indications are for
application of CSAs with an ointment or cream, pills or
injections may also be developed - if the compound gets to
market.
BYU and Vanderbilt have jointly filed a patent on CSA
technology, which has been licensed exclusively to Ceragenix.
Ceragenix CEO and Chairman Steven Porter said only further
research will tell, but he was optimistic about the application
of CSAs in the war on HIV/AIDS. There are indications that it
could help battle antibiotic- and antiviral-resistance strains
of disease as they manifest themselves.
"We are encouraged . . . that CSAs may provide a completely
unique family of anti-infectives, potentially active against a
wide range of viral, fungal and bacterial targets, including
those resistant to current therapies," he said.
Assuming continued positive test results in animal and eventual
human trials, Porter estimates it could be three to seven years
before the compound is available by prescription. That
transition could be accelerated, however, if the Food and Drug
Administration should decide to fast-track the drug.
That day is still a long way off, though. First, researchers
plan to publish their results in scientific journals, seeking
peer review and independent confirmation of their findings.
Assuming no flaws are found, several rounds of testing would
follow.
Most of the nation's leading AIDS experts were attending the
Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in
Denver on Monday. The event's policies prohibits on-site news
conferences or releases during the conference, and efforts to
reach scientists there were not successful.
Of the few AIDS research luminaries reached, all said they
preferred not to comment on the Vanderbilt tests until full
results are published.
bmims@sltrib.com
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