Alphabetical list:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Y Q Z 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
News: November 23, 2009
Genetic Variant Slows AIDS Progression
November 23, 2009Scientists report that a genetic variation appears to play a major role in slowing disease progression in HIV-infected patients.
In fact, those with the variation appear to take years longer to develop AIDS and die of complications of the disease.
"We're honing in on factors that vary across individuals that make a person more or less susceptible to HIV, in terms of how rapidly someone develops the disease," said study co-author Mary Carrington, a senior principal investigator at the U.S. National Cancer Institute.
However, this new knowledge won't translate into immediate benefits for patients with HIV.
AIDS remains a major killer in many parts of the world, but HIV - the virus that causes it - doesn't affect infected people the same way. "People progress to AIDS at hugely different rates," Carrington explained. "Some people progress within a year, while some have been infected for 20 years and still control the virus and don't have the disease."
It appears that three factors affect how the disease strikes a person, she said. One is the environment: the world in which a person lives. Another is the patient's genetic makeup. And the third is the genetic makeup of the virus itself.
In the study, published in the Nov. 22 online edition of Nature Genetics, Carrington and colleagues looked at genetic and medical records for hundreds of HIV-infected men. They were trying to see if genetic variations affected how the men fared.
The researchers found that a variation linked to higher levels of a protein known as HLA-C boosted the men's ability to avoid progressing to AIDS. It appeared to delay both the progression to AIDS and to death by years, Carrington said.
The genetic variation makes it easier for the immune system to kill cells that have been infected with the virus, she said. It does this by allowing immune cells to gain greater access to the infected cells, she explained.
Carrington said this genetic variation isn't related to another gene-related trait that makes some people virtually immune to HIV.
The study "hints at ways we might ultimately develop a vaccine or immune-based therapies that could modify or maybe even prevent the development of HIV disease," said Rowena Johnston, vice president of research with the Foundation for AIDS Research in New York City.
"The finding that a single piece of DNA can be strongly associated with something as complex as the control of HIV soon after infection is especially intriguing, not least because we know that early control of infection sets the stage for the entire course of the disease," Johnston noted.
What's next? The ultimate goal, Carrington said, is "to have a complete list of every genetic variance that is affecting how rapidly the disease develops."
That, in turn, could help physicians figure out how to better treat patients.
Archive issues: (50)
Archive list: 1 [2] 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
December 12, 2009 | Researchers Find New Drug To Shrink Breast Cancer TumorsBoston (SmartAboutHealth) - Researchers have discovered a new antibody drug that has the ability to shrink breast cancer tumors that other drugs have failed to impact. The study was carried out by researcher Dr. Ian Krop and colleagues at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. What they discovered is that a hybrid drug, T-DM1, was able to ...
December 11, 2009 | Fewer dollars for smoking preventionEven as states pull in billions of dollars in tobacco settlement money - part of which is typically used to fund anti-smoking programs - they're slashing the amount they spend on such programs by 15%. Altogether, states will spend $567.5 million on anti-smoking efforts in the 2010 fiscal year, says a report released by five groups ...
December 9, 2009 | Smoking Kills Millions Worldwide Every YearTobacco use kills at least 5 million people every year, a figure that could rise if countries don't take stronger measures to combat smoking, the World Health Organization said Wednesday. In a new report on tobacco use and control, the U.N. agency said nearly 95 percent of the global population is unprotected by laws banning smoking. WHO said secondhand smoking kills about 600,000 people every year. The report ...
Related articles:
Vacuum Therapy
These work by placing the penis in a vacuum cylinder device. The device helps draw blood into the penis by applying negative pressure. A tension ring is applied at the base of the penis to help maintain the erection. This type of device is sometimes referred to as penis pump and may be used just prior to sexual intercourse. Several types of FDA approved vacuum therapy devices are available ...Section: Erectile Dysfunction
Chronic bacterial prostatitis - signs and symptoms
Chronic bacterial prostatitis is a relatively rare condition - occurs in less than 5% of patients with prostate-related non-BPH lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) - that usually presents with an intermittent UTI-type picture and that is defined as recurrent urinary tract infections in men originating from a chronic infection in the prostate. Dr. Weidner, Professor of Medicine, Department of Urology, ...Section: Prostatitis
Causes
The cause of IC/PBS is unknown, though several theories have been put forward (these include autoimmune, neurologic, allergic and genetic). Regardless of the origin, it is clear that the majority of IC/PBS patients struggle with a damaged urothelium, or bladder lining. When the surface glycosaminoglycan (GAG) layer is damaged (via a urinary tract infection (UTI), excessive consumption of coffee or sodas, traumatic injury, etc.), urinary chemicals can "leak" into surrounding tissues, ...Section: Interstitial cystitis