Research study on late progressors of HIV

[Guest guest]

3 October 2009 Forty-three-year-old Simon (name changed on request) is many a

young man's hero in Chennai.

A community worker, he spends his time with society's Two big AIDS vaccine

trials have taken place since 1983 poorest - visiting slums and brothels to

educate people on safe sex.

But this lanky, always-smiling , diehard Rajnikant fan harbours a secret - he is

HIV positive. Now, a rare " gift " that he possesses has some of India's

best-known scientists interested in him.

Simon was diagnosed with HIV in 1992, but the deadly virus has not caused him

any harm till now. Seventeen years later, he remains healthy, popping just a

vitamin pill a day, and has not developed full-blown AIDS.

The reason? Simon belongs to a rare global community called " late progressors "

or " elite controllers " - people infected with HIV who stay healthy for years

without requiring life-saving anti-retroviral treatment (ART).

About one in 300 people with HIV is an elite controller. Speaking from Chennai,

Dr Suniti , director of YRG Centre for Aids Research and the scientist

who detected the first case of HIV/AIDS in India , in 1986, confirms , " Simon

came to me with HIV in 1992 and he is perfectly healthy, even now. "

When one gets infected with HIV, the virus multiplies and attacks the immune

system's CD4 cells responsible for protecting the body against diseases. The

virus destroys these cells over a period of eight years. The cell count drops

from 1,500, in a drop of blood the size of a pea, to 200. Once a patient's count

goes below 250, he is put on lifesaving ART.

However, " in people like Simon, the count does not drop. Their body has

something that stops the virus from multiplying, " explains Dr . Now,

scientists are trying to isolate this magic weapon.

Meanwhile, another fascinating community - mainly comprising women - has also

got scientists in India excited. Called " exposed sero negative " , these are

women who have, for years, had sex with HIV-positive , condom-refusing husbands

but not got infected . Many have also had babies who aren't HIV positive.

Laxmi, whose husband is an influential leader in southern India, is one of them.

In her early 30s and married for the last six years, she remains hale and

hearty.

" We have 400 such couples and a dozen elite controllers whom we are studying to

see whether they carry special genes which prevent the virus from multiplying in

their bodies. The cure for AIDS may come from members of these two communities, "

says Dr .

These two groups have caught the attention of AIDS scientists the world over.

Recently, in the first such discovery in over a decade, scientists associated

with the International Aids Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and the Scripps Research

Institute discovered two powerful new antibodies in an African male elite

controller. The antibodies neutralise all major forms of HIV.

In India, a project to identify and study similar patients is expected to take

off by December , a health ministry official says.

Top Indian scientists are part of a global consortium looking to isolate

antibodies from elite controllers. Professor V S Chauhan, director of the

International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in Delhi, part of

IAVI's Neutralising Antibody Consortium, said their main job was to develop

immunogens (any substance that produces immunity in the body) with the same

structure as these neutralising antibodies.

" We have, till now, isolated four antibodies that have protected people with HIV

from developing AIDS in Africa and the US. In India too, there are elite

controllers. If we start isolating antibodies from them, we will have a larger

spectrum of antibodies, " points out Dr Chauhan. Scientists say the challenge is

to design immunogens with the same structure as these neutralising antibodies.

Researchers believe they can create an effective vaccine if they are able to get

the human body to produce neutralising antibodies before exposure to HIV.

Since 1981, 40 million people have been infected with the virus. An estimated

four million new infections occur annually, of which 90 per cent, are in

developing countries. The world only has 20 anti-retroviral drugs to suppress

the virus for some time. It is believed that a vaccine would need to teach the

body to produce these powerful antibodies before exposure to the virus. But for

over two decades scientists have been making futile attempts in this direction.

Now with elite controllers coming under scrutiny, there's new hope.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/health/The-bodys-el\

ite-fight-AIDS-/articleshow/5083813.cms