Washington Blade - November 30, 2001

LONDON (AP) -- New research indicates that performing a blood test after six days of new medication, instead of the typical four weeks, could get HIV patients onto the best drug cocktail more quickly, sparing them unnecessary side effects and reducing the virus' ability to become resistant to the pills. The approach, described in The Lancet medical journal, accurately predicted 99 percent of the time when specific medications would not work for a particular patient in the long term. The researchers, from the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Cancer Institute, analyzed medical information on 124 HIV patients that was collected during previous studies conducted between 1997 and 2000. The findings indicated that the speed at which the virus disappeared from the blood during the first week of therapy predicted how effective a certain drug regimen would be for an individual. "This is preliminary," said Dr. Martin Hirsch, director of clinical AIDS research at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and a professor at the Harvard School of Medicine.

NIH study suggests cholesterol helps AIDS virus

WASHINGTON (AP) -- When HIV invades a cell, it picks a place on the cell's membrane that is rich in cholesterol, according to a new study at the National Institutes of Health. Researchers at the National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases, a part of NIH, found that HIV attaches to a semi-solid patch on the cell's membrane that is loaded with cholesterol. These patches, which move around on the cell membrane, are called rafts. In laboratory studies, the researchers found that when they removed cholesterol from the cells targeted by HIV, the virus's ability to make new viral particles or to infect additional cells was crippled. The study proves that an HIV protein, called Gag, targets the cholesterol-loaded rafts at a site where it attaches to the inner cell membrane surface. Eric O. Freed of NIAID said the new work shows that the connection between Gag and the rafts is a critical step in making new HIV particles. This finding might one day lead to new drugs against AIDS, he said.

FDA to examine possible HIV drug side effect

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Food & Drug Administration is planning a joint study with the Department of Veterans Affairs to determine whether newer HIV drugs might be contributing to a serious side effect not previously associated with AIDS, Reuters reported. The study will look into the cause of avascular necrosis, the destruction of bone cells due to a deficient blood supply. Judy Staffa, of the FDA's Office of Postmarketing Drug Risk Assessment, told Reuters that the study would determine whether the side effect is a natural consequence of HIV infection or can be linked to certain drugs. "It's a retrospective study," Staffa told Reuters. "But we are going to have to gather additional data."

Yale funded for end-of-life therapy study

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center, part of the Yale University School of Medicine, received a two-year nearly-$200,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the benefits of meditation and massage therapy for end-of-life AIDS patients, AIDS Weekly reported. The study, to be conducted jointly with Leeway Inc., an AIDS nursing facility, and researchers from the Yale University School of Nursing, will attempt to determine the effectiveness of meditation and massage in improving patients' perceived quality of life. "In terminal illness, quality of life remains important, as does the quality of peacefulness of the person's death," said lead investigator David Katz. "This study will be valuable for finding ways to improve quality of life, particularly in the spiritual domain, for patients dying of AIDS. Meditation and massage interventions make intuitive sense as complementary care at the end of life."

New process may help cancer patients

CHICAGO (AP) -- A single, concentrated dose of radiation may be as effective as six straight weeks of treatment for women who have had a cancerous lump removed from a breast, preliminary research suggests. The experimental treatment could make lumpectomy -- a breast-saving type of cancer surgery in which only the lump is removed -- available to many more women. Many women who are diagnosed with early breast cancer cannot spend six weeks receiving daily radiation treatments, said Dr. Jayant Vaidya, a surgeon at University College London in England who led the study. An experimental technique called intra-operative radiotherapy uses a miniature radiation probe right after a lumpectomy. The probe is inserted inside the cavity created by removal of the tumor, and radiation equivalent to six weeks of doses is emitted for about 25 minutes. Since peak time for cancer recurrence is two to four years after treatment, it is too soon to call the technique a success, said Dr. LaMar McGinnis, senior medical consultant for the American Cancer Society. But "so far, so good," Vaidya said.

-- From staff and wire reports

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