Cure For Aids? Australian Scientist May Have Found It

Australian scientists have discovered what has been called a "breakthrough" in a form of gene therapy to combat AIDS.

The study by Australian scientist David Harrich from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research reports that there was success in modifying a protein in the HIV virus that fuels the virus to replicate and "potently" inhibited the virus from growing---according to the Australian Times. 

Harrich is calling the modified protein Nullbasic and claims that it performed remarkably in attacking HIV growth in a lab environment.

Nullbasic could prove instrumental in treating people who already have the virus and could lead to a cure in the future, he said.

The Australian scientist and his team believe that the new discovery can actually block reverse transcription---the process that allows HIV to damage the immune system.

Harrich started to research the HIV virus in 1989 at the University of California in Los Angeles and continued his studies after making the move to Australia.

"With money running out, I had my PhD student try one more experiment in 2007. The experiment was to test if Nullbasic could render HIV non-infectious," Harrich told the Australian Times. "The student came back and said it worked, so I told him to do it again and again and again. It works every time."

Harrich believes that preventing replication of the virus could prevent a person infected with HIV from experiencing any of the associated symptoms of the disease.

"[That] requires some hand waving at this point, but my belief is that protecting immune cells from succumbing to the deleterious effects of infection will result in a much better, functional immune system to combat opportunistic infections. That is the goal and what we need to test," he said.

Harrich's team plans to start testing the effects of Nullbasic on HIV-positive mice sometime this year to see if the altered protein has any affect on the different stages of infection, according to the Australian Times. If the results are promising, clinical trials could begin within 10 years.

(Source: Australian Times)