REVIEW: HIV-1 and current research on antivirals, vaccines, and animal models
Daniel Nelson
Introduction
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) represents a major public health concern in developing and developed nations alike, with an estimated 35.3 million people worldwide living with HIV1.One-third of a century’s worth of research has helped change HIV from a steady and certain killer into a relatively manageable infection when treated with appropriate care. However, the HIV puzzle is far from solved. 2012 estimates suggest acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS, caused by HIV) kills 1.6 million each year1. Reflecting the seriousness of the pandemic, the United States National Institutes of Health has made it a research priority, investing nearly three billion US dollars in HIV/AIDS research in 2013 alone—with similar amounts budgeted for future years2.
Two major types of HIV exist: type 1 and type 2. Both viruses cause AIDS, but have divergent characteristics. HIV-1 is largely responsible for the worldwide HIV pandemic, given its increased transmissibility, virulence, and prevalence compared to HIV-2. HIV-2 infection is most prominent in West Africa, exhibiting less severe disease and a longer stage of asymptomatic infection3,4. Therefore, this review focuses on HIV-1. Much of the recent work on this virus has been devoted to developing new targets for antiretroviral drugs, candidate vaccines, and improved animal models. This review contains an overview of HIV-1 and discusses current research progress.
Origin of HIV-1 and potential for further pandemicity
TABLE 1. General characteristics of HIV.
Type of genome Diploid, positive sense, single-stranded RNA9
Size of genome ~9.2 kb9,10
Naked/enveloped Enveloped9
Receptor molecu...
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... donor61. Some mouse models, like the Rag2-/-Il2rg-/- and BLT mice, are capable of infection by mucosal routes, an important feature of HIV-1 transmission61,63. Humanized mouse models represent an easily accessible tool for HIV-1 research.
Conclusion
A significant research investment has been made in helping to reduce the burden of HIV-1 infection worldwide. Antivirals help delay the onset of AIDS. Vaccine research has achieved some minor victories. Animal models allow more thorough and representative study of HIV-1. While HIV/AIDS still remains a major concern for the global community, continued research will doubtless bring further advances, helping to prevent infections before they occur and to provide better outcomes for those already infected with HIV-1. Fortunately, the battle with HIV/AIDS—though far from being over—is going better than it ever has before.
In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Rebecca Skloot describes the case of John Moore, a man with Leukemia, who had his spleen removed. The doctor who did this surgery not only stole his cells but also sold them and made money off of them. The doctor did not inform John of his intentions. John’s cells now have a value of 3 billion dollars due to how valuable they are. When John found out about his doctor’s intentions he took to the doctor to court. The court informed John that everything the doctor did was under informed consent so it was found legal. The judge “rejected his suit because Moore did not have property interest in the cell line developed by his doctor and that his rights to privacy and dignity were sufficiently protected by doctrine of informed consent”(Devine) Today, due to that court case, patients who have any surgeries must sign a paper giving
Henrietta Lacks was an african american women born on August 1, 1920, “into a family of impoverished tobacco farmers in Roanoke, Virginia” (Spigner 1).On January 29, 1951 Henrietta went to Johns Hopkins. John Hopkins was the only hospital in the area that treated black patients at that time. Henrietta went in because she felt a "knot" in her womb.She had previously told her cousins about the "knot" and they presumed that she may have been pregnant. They were correct, henrietta was indeed pregnant and she gave birth to her daughter Deborah. But after giving birth to her daughter Deborah, Lacks had a severe hemorrhage. A hemorrhage is heavy bleeding from a tissue rupture. Her primary care doctor only tested her for syphilis, which came back
Did you ever wonder what are when HELA cells came to exist ?In the book the immortal life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, The author answers all your questestion that you could ever have about HELA cells. In this book be theme would be injustice because the doctors took the cells form her Henrietta without her knowing because she was poor and didn’t have the money. HELA cells first came to be when Henrietta Lacks was telling a couple of her friends that she felt like she had a knot in her stomach. Five months later she had a child, but the pain in her stomach still continued, so she finally went to doctor Jones to look inside her to see if there was anything wrong. When the doctor was done with his inspection he told her that she
Immortality is a term that is rarely used outside of comic books and fiction novels; the term means to live forever (Merriam-Webster). Henrietta Lacks was an American woman from Clover Virginia whose cervical cancer cells were the source of the HeLa cell line. The scientific name for HeLa is helacyton gartleri and is the oldest and most commonly used human cell line. The HeLa name derived from the first two letters in the name Henrietta Lacks. After being diagnosed with cervical cancer, Henrietta sadly passed away only 8 months later. Henrietta’s cells still live and are growing today and are being used for research purposes.
AIDS is the one of the most devastating diseases known to man as of today. “At the EJAF (Elton John AIDS Foundation) we believe that AIDS can be beaten” (Elton). Elton John AIDS Foundation is one of the most well-known charities in it’s field and is well respected throughout the world. Elton John decided to start this organization after losing two of his close friends, Freddie Mercury and Ryan White, to the disease. The foundation was initially set up in the United States (New York) in 1992, and then the United Kingdom (London) in 1993 (Elton). The principal advocacy of the foundation is to improve the quality of life of those diagnosed with or at high risk for HIV/AIDS.
Genetics influences equality in many ways. In class we learned a couple ways genetics has influenced equality throughout the years. Although this isn’t an issue in the present day, it was during the time of the civil rights movement. An example of how genetics influences equality is shown through the book we read in class.
By searching for the causative agent of infectious disease the focus can then be shifted into discovering preventative and treatment of the disease. Examples of this process are the outbreak of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). As published by McEwen & Wills (2011), BSE was identified as a protein transmitted through the ingestion of contaminated meat. Prevention and interventions were created as a result of the discovery of the protein. Comparably, AIDS, was first identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in September of 1982, however, months passed before the causative agent was deemed a retrovirus later to be determined the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Even before the virus was isolated methods of transmission was recognized and interventions were acknowledged (McEwen & Wills, 2011).
The spread of aids threatens our population daily. Lives lost to it number over 12 million, including 2 mil...
Heroism can be defined as when one displays could courage. All over the world there are individual heroes. Some of those people start organizations to help people in need. The Magic Johnson Foundation is a heroic organization to help people achieve what they want to achieve while maintaining a good healthy life.
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) was first recognized as a new disease in 1981 when increasing numbers of young homosexual men succumbed to unusual opportunistic infections and rare malignancies (Gallant49).During this time, many people were contacting this disease because it was not discovered yet and people did not have knowledge about it.Scientists believe HIV came from a particular kind of chimpanzee in Western Africa. Humans contracted this disease when they hunted and ate infected animals. A first clue came in 1986 when a morphologically similar but antigenically distinct virus was found to cause AIDS in patients in western Africa (Goosby24). During this time, scientists had more evidence to support their claim about this disease. Once discovered this disease was identified as a cause of what has since become one of the most devastating infectious diseases to have emerged in recent history (Goosby101). This disease was deadly because it was similar to the Black Death, it was killing majority of the population. Since its first identification almost three decades ago, the pandemic form of HIV-1 has infected at least 60 million people and caused more than 25 million deaths ...
The Human Immunodeficiency Virus is responsible for 1.6 million deaths annually according to the World Health Organization (WHO). It is a retrovirus, which infects the body's T-lymphocytes and destroy it, thus rendering the body susceptible to numerous diseases, especially viral diseases. Due to the fact that the body's immune system is compromised, opportunistic diseases begin to occur. In today's society, many persons engage in sexual intercourse with multiple partners and without condoms, therefore placing themselves at increases risk of sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV. Most individuals who are infected with HIV, develop AIDS at some point in time.
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Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) first came to light in 1981. There has been a long and arduous global effort on the prevention of HIV/AIDS. HIV is a virus that is spread through body fluids that affect the specific T-cells of the immune system. Without treatment HIV infection leads to AIDS and there is no cure for AIDS. HIV infection can be controlled and the importance of primary pre...
HIV-1 is the most prominent found type of HIV originating from chimpanzees in Central Africa. Research shows the earliest detection of HIV came from the lymph nodes of a man from the Belgian Congo. This proposed the suggestion that the disease might’ve transverse from the chimpanzees over to humans as early as 1959. This is all said to have begun when hunters began slaughtering innocent chimps as food nourishment. However, it wasn’t until 1982 when the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) distributed information that five citizens had died from an unusual and strange form of pneumonia which was believed to become known as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Then...
HIV does not only affect the well-being of individuals, it has large impacts on households, communities and even nations as a whole. Peer discussions and personal research has also made me realize that some of the countries suffering from this HIV epidemic also rather unfortunately suffer from other infectious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis, relative poverty and economic stagnation. Despite these setbacks, new inte...