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Researchers believe they have found a new compound of drugs that could finally kill HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and not just slow it down as current treatments do. Unlike the expensive cocktails that 25 years of research have produced, the compound, Caragenins, appears to hunt down and kill HIV.
Leading the research that has come up with the new compound was Dr Paul Savage of Brigham Young University (BYU), located in Provo, Utah in the United States.The private, coeducational research institution started on January 3, 1876 as an academy, before transforming into a fully-fledged university in 1903. Dr Savage said although so far limited to early test-tube studies, CSA-54, one of the family of the compound, mimics the disease-fighting characteristics of anti-microbial and anti-viral agents produced naturally by a healthy human immune system.
DRUG TESTED
Under the study sponsored by Ceragenix Pharmaceuticals, Savage and his colleagues developed and synthesised the compound for Vanderbilt University’s School of Medicine. In his laboratories, Dr 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 on 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.” Dr Unutmaz added: “We found that CSA-54 potently inhibits HIV infection of primary human CD4+ T cells, the virus’ in vivo targets, and was not toxic to epithelial cells at concentrations significantly higher than those required to kill the virus.”
He said in addition, CSA-54 killed a wide range of HIV isolates, and completely blocked genetically engineered HIV that enters the cells independent of the cell surface receptor that the virus normally uses. What the studies show to date 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.
KILLS ALL HIV STRAINS
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 five 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 dreaded bird flu, along with smallpox and herpes.
EIGHT-YEAR STUDY
Dr Savage said he and his BYU research team had been studying CSAs for eight years, taking note of the compounds’ value against microbial and bacteria infections. It was only a year ago that they saw the CSAs killed viruses, too. “They kill viruses very effectively and in a way paralleling our own, natural defences,” Savage said. He noted that beyond the obvious use as a weapon against the AIDS pandemic, CSAs could also help many others with non-HIV immune deficiencies.
The compounds appear to have few limits on how they are administered to patients. Although early indications are for application of the CSAs with an ointment or cream, pills or injections may also be developed - if the compound gets to market. The university and Vanderbilt have jointly filed a patent on CSA technology, which has been licensed exclusively to Ceragenix, the pharmaceutical company that sponsored the research.
MORE RESEARCH
Ceragenix Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Steven Porter said only further research would tell. He was, however, 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 for prescription.
That transition could be accelerated, however, if the global Food and Drug Administration authorities 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.
All the AIDS research luminaries reached said they preferred not to comment on the Vanderbilt tests until full results were published.
HIV AND AIDS IN UGANDA
Uganda is often held up as a model for Africa in the fight against HIV & AIDS. Strong government leadership, broad-based partnerships and effective public education campaigns all contributed to a decline in the number of people living with the disease. There are currently an estimated 940,000 people living with HIV in Uganda, and a further 1.2 million children who have been orphaned by AIDS.
THE CURRENT SITUATION
The current HIV prevalence in Uganda is estimated at 5.4 percent amongst adults. According to the Uganda HIV and AIDS Sero-Behavioural Survey, the number of people living with HIV is higher in urban areas (10.1 percent prevalence) than rural areas (5.7 percent). It is also higher among women (7.5 percent) than men (5.0 percent).
It is feared that HIV prevalence in the country may be rising again. There are many theories as to why this may be happening, including the government’s shift towards abstinence-based prevention programmes, and a general complacency or ‘AIDS-fatigue’. It has been suggested that antiretroviral drugs have changed the perception of AIDS from a death sentence to a treatable, manageable disease; this may have reduced the fear surrounding HIV, and in turn have led to an increase in risky behaviour. “People now think that because we have had HIV for so many years, it is a normal condition among the population,” says Dr Kihumuro Apuuli, the director of Uganda Aids Commission.
THE IMPACT OF AIDS ON UGANDA
AIDS has killed approximately one million people in Uganda, and significantly reduced life expectancy. It has depleted the country’s labour force, reduced agricultural output and food security, and weakened educational and health services. The large number of AIDS-related deaths amongst young adults has left behind over a million orphaned children. Women are particularly affected, representing 59 percent of those infected. Ugandan women tend to marry and become sexually active at a younger age than their male counterparts, and often have older and more sexually experienced partners. This (plus various biological and social factors) puts young women at greater risk of infection.
People living with HIV & AIDS in Uganda not only face difficulties related to treatment and management of the disease, but they also have to deal with AIDS-related stigma and discrimination at all levels of society.
WAY FORWARD
Uganda is at an important crossroad in the history of its AIDS epidemic. After a dramatic reduction in HIV prevalence following an early comprehensive HIV prevention campaign, there are signs that the number of people living with HIV in the country may be starting to rise again. More multi-sectoral approaches to curb the prevalence are called for.
