The Associated Press; 50 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020 - Friday, October 24, 1997, 6:34 a.m. EDT

The molecule was discovered by a team led by famed AIDS researcher Robert Gallo. A report today in the journal Science said the molecule works against HIV by physically blocking the portal used by the virus to invade lymphocytes and other types of blood cells.

Three similar molecules, all called chemokines, were found earlier by Gallo's team at the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. But Gallo said the new molecule is much more effective because it protects all the cell types attacked by HIV.

Periodic injections of these chemokines could create a barrier between HIV and its target cells, and prevent the virus from spreading its deadly infection, Gallo said.

"Its breadth of activity and its potency will make it more important than any of the other chemokines found so far," he said in an interview.

He emphasized, however, that before chemokines can be tried against HIV in humans, the molecules must be extensively tested in monkeys against a related virus called SIV, or simian immunodeficiency virus, the monkey equivalent of HIV, human immunodeficiency virus. Such testing could take several years.

Discovery of the new chemokine comes just as doctors report that some AIDS virus is developing a resistance to the three-drug combination that has successfully suppressed HIV in thousands of patients. That combination of reverse transcriptase and protease inhibitors works against the virus inside the target cell.

Chemokines would work against HIV by preventing the virus from entering those cells. The virus is thought to be less able to develop a resistance against this blocking action.

The discovery "sounds very promising" as a new type of treatment, said Patricia D'Souza, an AIDS researcher at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

"This chemokine appears to inhibit the viruses that appear early, as well as those that develop later," D'Souza said. "It might be really valuable in preventing infection, as well as preventing the progression of the disease."

Chemokines have been the subject of intense study by AIDS researchers since the discovery a decade ago that the molecules somehow work to suppress HIV, and are secreted by immune-system blood cells in response to HIV infection.

Their natural function is to attach to white blood cells, which are the body's major disease fighters, and guide those cells to the site of an infection.

Earlier research showed that chemokines attached to white blood cell surfaces at the same points, called receptors, that are used by the AIDS virus. The scientists also found that some strains of HIV concentrated on one type of receptor, while other strains targeted other receptors.

Gallo and his team earlier identified three chemokines that were able to block an HIV strain that mainly attacked macrophages, one type of blood cell.

The new chemokine is able to block not only the HIV strains that attack macrophages, but also the virus that attacks T-cells, the principal warrior of the immune system and the primary target of HIV, Gallo said.

"This chemokine is so broad that it also blocks SIV," Gallo said. "That means we can go right into testing on monkeys. This is a major step forward."

If the chemokines prove effective, he said, it may be possible to control HIV infection with periodic injections of a "cocktail" of several types of chemokines.

"It would be like using insulin shots to control diabetes," Gallo said.

It also may be possible to create a vaccine that prompts the body to produce high amounts of the HIV-specific chemokines. That, in theory, could prevent the initial HIV infection.

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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