There’s still no vaccine for HIV, but researchers have made inroads in discovering new clues to why a minority of infected people can carry the virus without symptoms.
Only about one in 300 people infected appear to have an immune system that can naturally suppress the virus’s replication, and thus they carry low levels of the virus, the study said. Specific genetic variations may be responsible for this uncommon response to HIV, this study published in the journal Science found.
“This tells us that the immune system is definitely involved in people getting infected and not progressing,” said study co-author Dr. Florencia Pereyra, who established International HIV Controllers Study, which has enrolled more than 1,500 people with HIV who have shown a natural ability to control the virus. “It really helps us focus a lot of research.”
In this study, an international team of researchers looked at the genome of nearly 1,000 “controllers” – people who can naturally control the virus in their system – and 2,600 individuals with progressive HIV infections.
They found that there are small variants in a protein called HLA-B that may be response for the ability to control the virus well. In people with particular differences in five components of this protein, called amino acids, the immune response against HIV is stronger.
Here’s how Pereyra explains it: Imagine that there’s a factory worker who grabs a piece of the virus, shows it out the window and says, “Hey, there’s this virus in here.” That’s the cue for the immune system to come in and attack. The hand of the factory worker represents the HLA molecule in this analogy.
In people who have specific differences in the “hands,” their T-cells, blood cells that protect against infections, appear to stop the virus from following the destructive course seen in most HIV-positive people. Some have lived symptom-free for more than 30 years, and take no medications whatsoever to combat HIV.
In some, called “elite controllers,” the virus cannot be detected in traditional HIV tests. But the virus’s signature is still present
The discovery about genetics suggests that the immune system can be manipulated to make infected individuals control HIV better, but “we are still a little bit far from being able to apply this to a vaccine or even a therapy,” Pereyra said.
“It’s just a step forward and we’re definitely going in the right direction,” Pereyra said.
from CNN

A Republican group suing the Obama administration to end the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” law asked the Supreme Court on Friday to overrule this week’s decision by a federal appeals court to keep the policy in place while it considers the matter.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, who received the Log Cabin Republicans’ filing, asked the Justice Department for its response. Kennedy is the justice responsible for appeals from the 9th Circuit; he can either rule on the case on his own or refer it to the entire court.
On Monday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled that the Pentagon can keep enforcing the ban on gay men and lesbians openly serving in uniform. The appeals court is set to hear arguments on the matter at a later date.
The Obama administration has argued that a court order to suddenly end the ban without first properly training military personnel could wreak havoc on the force and disrupt the ranks.
But the Log Cabin Republicans, which advocates for gay rights, argued in its filing that the only harm the government would suffer by lifting the ban is “entirely bureaucratic, procedural and transitory in nature,” and “sharply outweighed by the substantial constitutional injury that service members will sustain” by keeping the policy in place.
“It is unfortunate the Obama Justice Department has forced the Log Cabin Republicans to go to the Supreme Court,” LCR Executive Director R. Clarke Cooper said in a statement. Cooper was a State Department official during George W. Bush’s administration and is a captain with the U.S. Army Reserves.
“The 9th Circuit order was arbitrary and an abuse of discretion and should be vacated immediately,” said Dan Woods, the attorney representing LCR. “We continue to look forward to the day when all Americans can serve in our military without regard to their sexual orientation.”
If the Supreme Court was to hear the case, Justice Elena Kagan would likely recuse herself, because she worked on the Justice Department’s case strategy in her previous role as solicitor general. That would leave the case in the hands of just eight justices, five of whom are considered conservative and three considered more liberal.
Should the Supreme Court vacate the 9th Circuit’s decision, then enforcement of “don’t ask, don’t tell” is once again ended pending any appeal by the Obama administration. If the high court declines to hear LCR’s appeal, then the policy remains in place and the case remains under consideration by the appeals court.
Despite the work of several left-leaning gay rights organizations, LCR has emerged in recent weeks as one of the most high-profile organizations opposed to “don’t ask, don’t tell.” The group has about 19,000 members nationwide.
It sued the Obama administration this summer to end the policy and caught the Pentagon off guard when a district court judge ruled the policy unconstitutional and ordered the military to stop enforcing it.
Cooper and other gay rights leaders met briefly last week with President Obama to discuss legislative efforts to repeal the ban. LCR is also lobbying five moderate Republicans to ensure any repeal legislation has enough support to pass the Senate during the upcoming lame-duck session.
from The Washington Post

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