Retrovirology News and Research

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Scientists, advocacy experts form new international Foundation for Vaccine Research

Fourteen leading scientists and advocacy experts in vaccines and infectious diseases have announced the formation of a new international Foundation to advance and accelerate vaccine research and development against infectious diseases.

9 Jun 2011

Anti-AIDS gel shows promise

Dr. Ian McGowan, a professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh who is leading a second-phase study of the gel said, “These are early results, but [they] help set the stage for current and future trials of rectal microbicides and the development of a rectal-specific formulation of tenofovir gel.” Researchers have focused on the use of microbicides such as tenofovir, as a preventive treatment to be used in vaginal sex. However, scientists think unprotected anal sex is much more risky.

1 Mar 2011

Chronic fatigue syndrome not linked to virus

The latest research from the University College London, the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, and University of Oxford, England suggests that chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is not caused by the virus XMRV (xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus). The team says that earlier research that linked the virus to CFS was faulty because of contamination of mouse cell DNA samples in the laboratory.

21 Dec 2010

NIH trial selects Inovio's PENNVAX-G DNA vaccine candidate to evaluate HIV-1 prevalent

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leader in the development of therapeutic and preventive vaccines against cancers and infectious diseases, announced today that a Phase I study, called RV262, recently began to evaluate a combination DNA prime/MVA vector boost regimen that was developed to protect against diverse subtypes of HIV-1 prevalent in North America, Europe, Africa, and South America.

29 Sep 2010

RV262 Phase I study launched to evaluate DNA prime/MVA vector boost vaccine regimen for HIV

A Phase I study, called RV262, recently began to evaluate a combination DNA prime/MVA vector boost vaccine regimen that was developed to protect against diverse subtypes of HIV-1 prevalent in North America, Europe, Africa and South America.

29 Sep 2010

Researchers find role of Vpr protein in HIV infection

Dr. Éric A. Cohen, Director of the Human Retrovirology research unit at the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM), and his team published yesterday, in the online open-access journal PLos Pathogens, the results of their most recent research on the role of the Vpr protein in HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) infection and AIDS (acquired autoimmune deficiency syndrome).

3 Sep 2010

Physician-in-chief at Texas Children's Hospital honored with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Award

Last night at the 38th annual Jefferson Awards, Mark W. Kline, M.D., physician-in-chief at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston and chair of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine, was honored with the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Award for "Outstanding Community Service Benefiting Local Communities" for his dedication to treating children affected by HIV/AIDS around the world

24 Jun 2010

ABL to host CRP-Santé COMET subtyping tool within TherapyEdge servers

The licensing and distribution agreement allows ABL to directly host COMET (COntext-based Modeling for Expeditious Typing) subtyping tool developed at CRP-Santé within the TherapyEdge servers; it will mainly interact with the ViroScore Suite system to characterize HIV-1 virus subtypes.

24 Jun 2010

Winners of BioMed Central Annual Research Awards announced

The winners of BioMed Central's 4th Annual Research Awards were announced at London's Swiss Re Tower last night. The event was attended by shortlisted authors, eminent researchers, publishers, open access advocates and science journalists from around the world.

14 Jun 2010

XMRV infection is not linked to chronic fatigue syndrome

Researchers investigating UK samples have found no association between the controversial xenotropic murine leukaemia virus-related virus (XMRV) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

17 Feb 2010

Infectious virus particles can bind to the surface of red blood cells: MHRP researchers

Free infectious HIV-1 is widely thought to be the major form of the virus in the blood of infected persons. U.S. Military HIV Research Program (MHRP) researchers, however, have demonstrated that essentially all of the infectious virus particles can bind to the surface of red blood cells isolated from each of 30 normal (non-infected) human donors.

16 Dec 2009

Trial collaborators present results from Prime-Boost HIV Vaccine Clinical Trial

Detailed results from the Prime-Boost HIV Vaccine Clinical Trial involving more than 16,000 adult volunteers in Thailand show that an investigational HIV vaccine regimen was safe and modestly effective at reducing the rate of HIV infection compared to placebo.

20 Oct 2009

Results of Phase III clinical trial of HIV vaccine released

A Phase III clinical trial involving more than 16,000 adult volunteers in Thailand has demonstrated that an investigational HIV vaccine regimen was safe and modestly effective in preventing HIV infection. According to final results released by the trial sponsor, the U.S. Army Surgeon General, the prime boost combination of ALVAC(R)( )HIV and AIDSVAX(R) B/E( )lowered the rate of HIV infection by 31.2% compared with placebo.

24 Sep 2009

Induced antibodies neutralize HIV-1; recognize peptides encapsulated in liposomes

For the first time, researchers have experimentally induced antibodies that neutralize HIV-1 and simultaneously recognize both HIV-1 envelope protein and lipids. The results were reported by U.S. Military HIV Research Program (MHRP) researchers on Aug. 25 in the online version of AIDS, the official journal of the International AIDS Society.

2 Sep 2009

HIV transmission in Europe occurs primarily in vacation destinations

HIV in Europe is transmitted primarily in vacation destinations, according to a study published recently in the journal Retrovirology, the PA/Google.com reports.

22 May 2009

New map depicts the spread of HIV in Europe

Those travelling abroad should take seriously advice to pack their condoms and keep their needles to themselves: research published today in the open access journal Retrovirology shows that tourists, travellers and migrants from Greece, Portugal, Serbia and Spain actively export HIV-1 subtype B to other European nations.

19 May 2009

A new monkey model for HIV

By altering just one gene in HIV-1, scientists have succeeded in infecting pig-tailed macaque monkeys with a human version of the virus that has until now been impossible to study directly in animals.

2 Mar 2009

Evolutionary back-and-forth for humans and viruses

For millennia, humans and viruses have been locked in an evolutionary back-and-forth - one changes to outsmart the other, prompting the second to change and outsmart the first.

21 Jul 2008

Lost viruses may contribute to AIDS

Weak HIV viruses piggyback onto stronger ones, raising the possibility that the human body may harbor many more HIV viruses capable of replicating and contributing to the development of AIDS than previously thought, according to research published in BioMed Central's open access journal, Retrovirology.

8 Jul 2008

Scientists image a single HIV particle being born

A mapmaker and a mathematician may seem like an unlikely duo, but together they worked out a way to measure longitude - and kept millions of sailors from getting lost at sea. Now, another unlikely duo, a virologist and a biophysicist at Rockefeller University, is making history of its own.

25 May 2008