Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The Associated Press; 50 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020 - Wednesday, September 17, 1997; 5:34 a.m. EDT
Alex Dominguez, Associated Press Writer
Fourteen of 128 hemophiliacs who were repeatedly exposed to blood products tainted with the AIDS virus did not become infected with HIV, more proof that an anti-inflammatory agent naturally produced by the body can ward off the fatal illness, researchers said.
Those 14 people shared one thing in common -- naturally occurring substances called chemokines that appear at a level at least twice as high as most people have, researcher Allessandro Gringeri said Tuesday at a conference sponsored by the University of Maryland's Institute for Human Virology.
As further evidence that chemokines may offer built-in protection against AIDS, blood cells taken from the 14 hemophiliacs became infected in laboratory tests after the chemokines' action was blocked, Gringeri said.
"For this reason, we are quite sure chemokines inhibited the infections," said Gringeri of the Maggiore Hospital and University of Milan.
The 128 hemophiliacs, all from Italy, received the tainted blood products between 1980 and 1985. All but 14 became progressively ill between 1981 and 1986.
If scientists can find a way to mimic chemokines' effects, it may be possible to find a way to block pathways of HIV's docking sites in the body, called receptors.
"We cannot induce our body to produce more chemokines, and as far as I know we cannot administer chemokines, but we can find out if there are agents we can use to block the receptors," Gringeri said.
Dr. Paolo Lusso, head of the human virology department at the San Rafael Institute in Milan, agreed that chemokines are emerging as a key to fighting AIDS.
"It's one of the first lines of evidence in a human that chemokines are associated with protection and confirms what has been seen in monkeys and in the laboratory," said Lusso, who was not involved in Gringeri's research.
"These data are starting to put all the pieces of the puzzle together," Lusso said. "It's starting to emerge that chemokines are probably the key correlate for protection that we have been hunting for."
In August, scientists at the National Cancer Institute reported that people with mutated chemokine receptors did not become infected despite repeated HIV exposure.
Gringeri said all 14 hemophiliacs he studied had normal receptors, but twice the average amount of chemokines in their blood. Gringeri said he plans to present the research, which has been submitted to the journal Natural Medicine, at the weeklong conference Friday.
Dr. Robert Gallo, co-discoverer of the AIDS virus and director of the Institute for Human Virology, also participated in Gringeri's research. Gallo said chemokines may be the body's first line of defense.
"People who overproduce chemokines are more protected than the average Joe," Gallo said.
Copyright 1997/The Associated Press. Reproduced with permission. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the Permissions Desk, The Associated Press, 50 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020.
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