Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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United Press International - October 9, 2006
Researchers at the La Jolla, Calif., Institute for Allergy & Immunology say they eliminated a chronic virus infection in lab mice by blocking a key messenger molecule in the animals' immune system.
The scientists say their finding has particular relevance for hepatitis C but may also be applicable to AIDS, cytomegalovirus and other chronic virus infections.
"This is a significant advance that holds great promise for the treatment of chronic virus infections," said Mitchell Kronenberg, LIAI president. He the research is particularly exciting because the scientific team was able to completely eradicate the usually chronic infection in the mice, not just tone it down as do many of the current treatment methods for such infections.
The research team, led by Dr. Matthias von Herrath, announced its finding in a paper published Monday in the online version of the Journal of Experimental Medicine.
A separate study, led by Michael Oldstone of the Scripps Research Institute, produced similar results.
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