A NEW PIECE OF THE PUZZLE IN THE AIDS CONUNDRUM : A LUPUS SUFFERER PRODUCES RARE ANTIBODIES THAT CAN CONTROL AIDS



Researchers are focusing on a peculiar finding in a woman suffering with Lupus.  The autoimmune disease is a very serious one, which can result in death is not carefully treated.

In the case of this woman however, the Lupus has given her an apparent advantage over other people who do not have the autoimmune disease. 

Analysis of the blood in the patient revealed that because her immune system is overactive, and in her case also attacks her own cells, it produces a rare antibody called 'broadly neutralizing antibodies'.  These rare antibodies are able to control Aids in the patient to a certain degree.

Although the combination of lupus and aids is rarely observed in patients, the finding could be of great interest in aids research.  This is a very important piece of the aids puzzle. 

In regular patients, who do not have the combination of illnesses, the body only produces other types of antibodies, although very rarely broadly neutralizing antibodies have been observed in rare instances of patients with the single infection of HIV.

The reason why the body of a regular patient does not produce these antibodies in the necessary amount to fight aids naturally, is because the immune system of a normal person does not produce too many of them. A self regulting mechanism that has to do with protection from the autoimmune effects of such antibodies blocks the production of the same in the bodies of people with a normal immune system. 

However, impaired immune system do not have this safety valve, and allow the more liberal production of the rare antibody.

 

The findings will not only aid in the understanding of the aids infection, but also of how this production mechanism occurs.  The process of generation of these particularly effective antibodies must be studied to understand how to generate a similar response in people without an autoimmune disease. 

The study also would aid greatly in formulating a vaccine against the disease, something that has been attempted for decades without much success. 

The problem with vaccine formulation in the case of aids, is that the virus' genetic code undergoes rapid mutation in replication, so that the antibodies of a human being cannot adapt to its changes efficiently. 

When scientists tested the broadly neutralizing antibodies, they found that they are more effective than the other types of antibodies, and more importantly, they were also able to fight multiple strains of HIV.

The challenge now will be to find out how and when to force the immune system to produce and release the rare antibodies.  One way to do it could be to cause its production by recreating the impaired immune systems of people with Lupus and other types of immune impacting diseases.  

However, the broadly neutralizing antibodies can damage human cells, which of course is the inherent risk of all autoimmune diseases. But they are generated from the same pool of immune cells that produce auto-reactive antibodies in people with autoimmune disease. 

The knowledge that such rare antibodies were effective against HIV was not novel to the discovery in the Lupus/HIV patient.  But it took researchers several years to find someone with the combination to study more closely the antibodies' production and effect in people with the rare combination.  The finding then reaffirmed what was already thought to be the peculiar antibodies' property in the presence of a higher number of them.

What scientists are trying to find out next, is in what different ways the special antibodies can be produced.  The lupus/HIV patient is the second instance observed, and can provide many more clues to the research. 

Even though such research will help in formulating a vaccine, it will not provide a cure for those who have HIV, even if they have the autoimmune/HIV combination.  The antibody might keep the infection at bay for some time, but the patient might still succumb to one or the other afflictions.


Source: LiveScience: 3.11.14


 

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