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Accidental Discovery Could Lead to Cure for AIDS Virus
sydlexius writes "A press release from Sandia tells of the discovery of niobium HPA, a chemical that bonds to viruses. Many scientists have been interested in the properties of various HPAs (heteropolyanions), however this is the first such case that is stable in basic and neutral solutions. The Albuquerque Tribune covers the story here. For subscribers of Science Magazine, you can find an article in this month's issue (Abstract)."
Heaven help us, but New Mexico???
One does not have AIDS, they have HIV. AIDS is a condition resulting from HIV - the inability to defend one's immune system. Hence, when one has HIV, viruses so incredibly weak can infect the person because of the lack of immune system.
Hence, this drug blocks those viruses, not HIV itself.
The One Rule Of Chess You'll Ever Need: Don't play someone who carries a kit in their bookbag.
Since there are no "real" cures for viruses, mearly anitviruses that train the bodies immune system to fight off viral infection, with time, could these HPAs be used as a sort of basic antivirus, waiting in the blood stream to attach to viruses?
I know nothing about these HPAs other than what I've read in the the linked articles, but thoughts of HPA based morning vitamins to help prevent things as mundain as flu to as vicious as ebola sure sounds like something to strive for.
I can see the slogans now. "A Pill a day, Keeps the Viri at bay!"
*shudder*
As science, this sounds very cool. HOWEVER, this is a report of some ultra-preliminary initial discovery. The chance of it living up to the first-press-release hype is essentially zero.
There are jillions of chemicals that will disable/destroy/etc. HIV in a test tube. Like plain old chlorine bleach. You know any AIDS sufferers being successfully treated with bleach?
I didn't think so.
It's easy to make up & spread cool- and credible-sounding stuff. Finding & checking hard facts is hard work.
Antibiotics were a result of an accident, and if this works out for them, it could go down in history as a similar discovery.
Heck, some people are even born as the result of an accident!
Um, Someone wana mod this -1, flamebait? Comeon, slashdot isn't for your non-tech bigotries. Grow up.
my best defense against any virus is to use Norton Antivirus. Oh well, it only helps to our race, called Windows; so most slashdotters can't use it. For them, the HPA may be a better solution.
Something that might revolutionize the treatment of AIDS, and make it completely managable was discovered by accident. So was Teflon, and Rogaine. So was the planet Uranus. Herschel initially thought he was seeing an asteroid. It is amazing how we can't find things we are looking for, but do find things we weren't looking for.
The Uncoveror: It's the real news.
"Identifying the problem concluded her task, but scientific curiosity led her to attempt to create the compound as an independent entity. "I was curious to see if I could synthesis it pure, rather than leave it merely as a discovered impurity," says Nyman."
Intellectual curiosity was the key here, more than dumb luck.
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Now, if we can just keep getting people/governments/companies to PAY for pure research based on intellectual curiosity, instead of wanting instant gratification ....
It also occurs to me that if one was drowning, yelling "Help! I'm drowning and I lost my bikini top" would probably be m
What sort of affinity does this stuff have with cell walls, DNA, and so on? If it clung to viruses and was completely inert to the body, it would be a revolution in medicine. No more viruses.
But we never get a free ride. The stuff will clog the arteries or something. Otherwise it will be sufficiently inert that it is used liberally, everywhere, and then it will turn out that viruses played a subtle role in all living systems. Of course that discovery would occur once the virus balance has been terminally offset.
However, since HIV is a retrovirus, it can stay dormant as DNA inside cells and re-appear spontaneously after years or decades even if it is killed off completely. Therefore, it is impossible for drugs to cure HIV; they can only control it and only if taken indefinitely. Only a "curative" vaccine could control HIV infection without drugs, but even in the best possible scenario, people would still remain asymptomatic carriers and they would probably still require regular boosters.
The long and short of it is: don't get infected with HIV. It's a nasty virus, it is intrinsically incurable (although it may be controllable eventually), and it is easy to avoid.
Not to detract from the important point Myco makes about encouraging pure research, unfortunately this is also an example of how scientists (encouraged by media exposure) tend to hype their discoveries very prematurely. The binding of radioactivity is pretty cool because that can be done in vitro. For viral inactivation one must realize that most viruses bind to protein molecules (usually receptors) on the surface of living cells and use them as a mechanism of entry into those cells. These receptors have a "normal" and often important function in the body that has nothing to do with viral entry. It is easy to imaging scenarios where the same compound that inactivates the virus will also inactivate the normal in vivo functions of the body, or the molecule is just generally toxic when administered. It is very irresponsible to give false hope to a group such as those who are HIV positive, desperately in need of new treatments. To secure continued grant support scientists often feel the need to over-hype discoveries. Stronger support for pure research without an obvious direct application might help alleviate some of that pressure on scientists and we might see more responsible press releases.
What I remember reading (actually I think on ./, but I can't find the original so just note that I'm not the first person to mention this) is that one of the biggest problems with AIDS is that the virus itself will become dormant in some cells over time. As the virus is not active, but simply lie in wait in cells until their time to rise, "cures" tend to overlook the cells while destroying active viruses.
From what I see, this solution would make it so the virus might not be able to kill you, but it would not make it so that you weren't infectious to others.
Ooops. I cured AIDS. Huh.
*In the background you hear 20,000 disgusted AIDS researchers throwing their clipboards to the ground in disgust*
Dumb luck. Gotta love it.
With my dying breath, I curse Zoidberg!