Acne drug may help prevent HIV breakout

Good morning friends. A cheap acne drug that's been used for decades effectively targets infected immune cells in which HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, lies dormant and prevents them from reactivating and replicating, claim Johns Hopkins researchers.

The drug, minocycline, likely will improve on the current treatment regimens of HIV-infected patients if used in combination with a standard drug cocktail known as HAART (Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy), according to research published now online and appearing in print April 15 in The Journal of Infectious Diseas es.

“The powerful advantage to using minocycline is that the virus appears less able to develop drug resistance because minocycline targets cellular pathways not viral proteins,” says Janice Clements, Ph.D., Mary Wallace Stanton Professor of Faculty Affairs, vice dean for faculty, and professor of molecular and comparative pathobiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

“The big challenge clinicians deal with now in this country when treating HIV patients is keeping the virus locked in a dormant state,” Clements adds. “While HAART is really effective in keeping down active replication, minocycline is another arm of defense against the virus.”

Unlike the drugs used in HAART which target the virus, minocycline homes in on, and adjusts T cells, major immune system agents and targets of HIV infection. According to Clements, minocycline reduces the ability of T cells to activate and proliferate, both steps crucial to HIV production and progression toward full blown AIDS.

If taken daily for life, HAART usually can protect people from becoming ill, but it’s not a cure. The HIV virus is kept at a low level but isn’t ever entirely purged; it stays quietly hidden in some immune cells. If a person stops HAART or misses a dose, the virus can reactivate out of those immune cells and begin to spread.

The idea for using minocycline as an adjunct to HAART resulted when the Hopkins team learned of research by others on rheumatoid arthritis patients showing the anti-inflammatory effects of minocycline on T cells. The Hopkins group connected the dots between that study with previous research of their own showing that minocycline treatment had multiple beneficial effects in monkeys infected with SIV, the primate version of HIV. In monkeys treated with minocycline, the virus load in the cerebrospinal fluid, the viral RNA in the brain and the severity of central nervous system disease were significantly decreased. The drug was also shown to affect T cell activation and proliferation.

“Since minocycline reduced T cell activation, you might think it would have impaired the immune systems in the macaques, which are very similar to humans, but we didn’t see any deleterious effect,” says Gregory Szeto, a graduate student in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine working in the Retrovirus Laboratory at Hopkins. “This drug strikes a good balance and is ideal for HIV because it targets very specific aspects of immune activation.” The Times of India

A Bacterium a Day Keeps the Doctor Away! – 1

Good morning to all, specially to mothers! This topic of mine is i know very important specially to your kids. As you not following your kids most of the time, they should be aware of everything specially when they are eating outside the house.

Bacteria. The mere mention of it connotes bad little germs responsible for those blows dealt to our body—that stomachache, that ugly rash, and other diseases and infections. Yes, like its cousin the virus, bacteria can be harmful. But do you know that not all bacteria are bad? “Probiotic” or good bacteria can do wonders for our bodies.

Right in Our Bodies

If we can just look right inside our digestive system—the stomach, the intestines and colon—we will find a host of bacteria ambling about. They number in billions, ten times more than the number of cells in the body. They first appeared within hours of our birth. Also called intestinal flora, these bacteria belong to more than 400 species. The good ones help us digest food, take in nutrients and process waste. The bad ones, also called “pathogenic” bacteria, wreak havoc in our system if not checked, pathogenic bacteria. They function in a number of ways. Some probiotic bacteria combat harmful microbes by secreting acids that are deadly to them. Others counter the production of certain mutagenic compounds that lead to cancer. Some also produce essential B vitamins such as niacin, folic acid, biotin and pyridoxine, or digestive enzymes like lactase, which breaks down milk and sugars. Probiotic bacteria also strengthens the immune system of our body.

Like in any society, the good and bad bacteria live together, competing with each other and checking the number and types of microbes present. The key is balance, and when this balance is achieved, the digestive system can work effectively.

Once in a while, this balance is tipped when stress comes in or fatigue sets in. A diet lacking in nutrients as well as a meal with unfamiliar foods can also upset this system. Antibiotics, disease and eating unclean food (those with Salmonella, etc.) can also have a disastrous effect. In all these cases, the pathogenic bacteria multiply in number and overpower the probiotics, causing diarrhea, abdominal pain and even ulcer, chronic gastritis and cancer.