A lot of the high profile HIV animal research has been directed at finding vaccines for the virus which have, so far, all failed to perform in clinical testing. But there are a number of other avenues of research including research focused better understanding how the disease is transmitted and looking for ways to stop that transmission.
In October, Science published the results of research conducted in the United States and Switzerland that managed to block transmission of the simian HIV in macaque monkeys.
In both human beings and macaques, the HIV virus can be transmitted across mucous membranes in the vagina and cervix. The virus uses a number of molecules to accomplish this task, including one called CCR5. CCR5 is so important to HIV transmission, that human beings who lack CCR5 due to genetic variations are all but immune from HIV infection.
Researchers at the University Hospitals of Cleveland Center for AIDS Research and University of Geneva in Switzerland created a compound that binds with CCR5. They then applied the compound to the vaginal surfaces of macaque monkeys, waited 15 minutes, and then exposed the macaques to SHIV.
The result? Of the macaques who received the highest dosage level of the CCR5-inhibiting compound, 12 of 15 animals did not become infected.
This research is a long way from any clinical trials, but if it is possible to cheaply manufacture a microbicide that would block CCR5 in human beings, it would be an extremely important advance.
As AIDS researcher Donald Mosier told Bio.Com,
Virtually all HIV [strains] use the CCR5 receptor. [So, completely] blocking CCR5 would block 99 percent of HIV transmission worldwide.
Sources:
HIV in monkeys ‘blocked by drug’. The BBC, October 14, 2004.
A Simple Strategy for Blocking HIV Transmission Proves Effective in Pre-Clinical Trials. Jason Socrates Bardi, Bio.Com, October 18, 2004.
Microbicide Shuts the Door on HIV. Jon Cohen, Science, October 15, 2004.