Th e Haart & GUT of Acute HIV Infection

The HAART—and Gut—Of Acute HIV Infection
By Jeffrey Laurence, M.D.
Our intestinal tract harbors the largest collection of immune cells in the body. No wonder then that recent amfAR-funded research has identified these tissues as key targets of HIV infection. But surprisingly, they could also prove to be of critical importance in the design of novel AIDS treatments that, unlike current antiretroviral drugs, might restore immune function.
Writing in the December 2006 issue of the journal PLoS Medicine, Dr. Martin Markowitz and colleagues at the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in New York described studies (funded by amfAR with the support of its partner Concerned Parents for AIDS Research) of 18 individuals who had begun treatment during acute HIV infection. It was assumed that if anyone could hope to protect their immune system against damage by HIV, it would be those initiating such early drug therapy. Biopsies of the patients’ colons were taken at different time points over the next 32 months and compared with similar samples from uninfected individuals and 22 patients who had begun antiretroviral treatment at later stages of infection.
But regardless of when treatment was started, none of the HIV-infected patients showed a return to normal levels of CD4+ T cell percentages in their gut. Just over two-thirds maintained a decrease of 50 percent or more in these T cells despite up to seven years of continuous antiretroviral therapy that completely suppressed detectable virus in their blood.
Markowitz and colleagues proposed several possible explanations for these findings. Chronic immune stimulation of gut T cells could lead to their early and inappropriate death by a process known as AICD, or activation-induced cell death. In fact, Dr. Daniel Douek, a former amfAR grantee and current member of its Scientific Advisory Committee, noted in a paper published in the December 2006 issue of Nature Medicine that an ominous cycle may be established early after an HIV infection. He posits that the protective role of the cells that line the intestine is disrupted early in infection, permitting bacterial products that normally reside in the intestine to enter into the blood. These bacterial products then activate new T cells, targeting them for destruction by AICD.
Given all this damage, can we ever hope to achieve true immune reconstitution in AIDS? Dr. Markowitz urged caution, noting that, “Although clinically silent over the short term, the long-term consequences of the persistence of this lesion may emerge as the HIV-1-infected population survives longer owing to the benefits of HAART.” But he also noted that studies of monkeys infected with the simian AIDS virus, SIV, suggest that an immune hormone, IL-15, may stimulate production of the types of T cells lost early in HIV infection, and promote their transport to the gut.
More research is needed into measuring the effectiveness of individual anti-HIV drugs in the intestines, in the understanding of the process by which mobile CD4+ T cells locate their appropriate position there, and in determining how bacterial products released by a damaged intestine might maintain an inappropriate state of T cell activation and death. These areas are topics of current, and future, amfAR funding.
Dr. Laurence is amfAR’s Senior Scientific Consultant.

Pigden Trial Begins Today,

The pigden trial started off today,& the GOV has spent millions on this case,i forget how many woman this guy supposedly killed =20-30-50?opening statements were made & i will try to keep yas updated on canada's gruelest killer 's trial.Things are not lookin well for myself,and i will have to watch what i do & will keep ya'll [posted on that.Seems i lossed all my other blogs!!!about 200 stories in all It really gets my blood goin that they are just gone somewheres!Well i hope they come home 1 day nways GODBless you all & Pray folks!

Clean but bored,My Life with HIV& The Caravan of Hope!

I can still remember the nurse saying how well i handled being told i was HIV+.I knew enough about hiv to know that i already had it,as i lived with a girlfriend who was hiv+ for 5 years,& back then i wasn't poz like i am now well since june 2001.I used to use clean & when i was capping someone else's rig,i knew i was in trouble.A feeling inside said U JUST F cked yerself !I freaked on the girl who it belonged too!I screamed at the top of my voice ,You Fn aids cunt,how could u do this to me?I was extremely upset and later apolagized for my inhumane treatment of her,she just wanted to get high same as everyone else in that scene.Well anyways time goes on & eventualy i get asked to do a few talks at group homes & it went ok but i always knew i could do better.I needed to use Visualization and merge that with my talks.I have done 6 talks now & now i am getting into this visualization thing and this will help me.I had a dream of going across canada doing talks at schools group homes ect. With 11 other HIV+ persopns telling & fliming our way across this nation.But i need a bus or tour bus or motorhome would be great.Theres so much involved in this Caravan of Hope as i like to call it,just think how many kids would learn from us?as we would be 12 we could split into 4 groups and just hit 4 in the mornings & 4 in the afternoons ? This would make 8 schools in 1 day!!They have a program like this in the usa why cant we get this in canada?GODbless yous all folks!

5 to 12 World Doom Clock Advances!

With the advance of the Doom Clock ya'd think the USA would be more Urgently recalling their troops home.I thought this would happen when the US peoples voted against bush,and yesterday he pushed for a 20,ooo troop level increase?Wake up US citizens and start Protesting & writing letters to whoevever they can think of,and alot of them as well!May GOD help us all eh!peace folks!