Hemophilia and long-term HIV infection -- is there a protective link?

(Press-News.org) Contact information: Vicki Cohn
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Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News
Hemophilia and long-term HIV infection -- is there a protective link?

New Rochelle, NY, December 11, 2013—People with the genetic blood clotting disorder hemophilia who have been infected with HIV for decades have an increased proportion of immune cells in their blood that specifically target HIV. This protective immune response helps chronically infected hemophilia patients survive, even during periods of HIV activity, according to a study published in BioResearch Open Access, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the BioResearch Open Access website.

Volker Daniel and colleagues, University of Heidelberg and Kurpfalz Hospital, Germany, compared the levels of a class of HIV-reactive immune cells called CD8+ lymphocytes in the blood of hemophilia patients infected with HIV for 30 years and in health individuals. They present the results in "HIV-Specific CD8+ T Lymphocytes in Blood of Long-Term HIV-Infected Hemophilia Patients."

"Understanding the reasons for long-term clinical stability in hemophilia patients living with HIV remains an important research goal, with high clinical significance," says BioResearch Open Access Editor Jane Taylor, PhD, MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Scotland. "Using a unique cohort of patients, who have been living with HIV-1 for more than 30 years, the authors propose that it is the cellular anti-HIV-1 response in combination with anti-retroviral therapy that ensures the long-term survival of these patients."



INFORMATION:

About the Journal

BioResearch Open Access is a bimonthly peer-reviewed open access journal led by Editor-in-Chief Robert Lanza, MD, Chief Scientific Officer, Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. and Editor Jane Taylor, PhD. The Journal provides a new rapid-publication forum for a broad range of scientific topics including molecular and cellular biology, tissue engineering and biomaterials, bioengineering, regenerative medicine, stem cells, gene therapy, systems biology, genetics, biochemistry, virology, microbiology, and neuroscience. All articles are published within 4 weeks of acceptance and are fully open access and posted on PubMedCentral. All journal content is available on the BioResearch Open Access website.

About the Publisher

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in promising areas of science and biomedical research, including, DNA and Cell Biology, Tissue Engineering, Stem Cells and Development, Human Gene Therapy, HGT Methods, and HGT Clinical Development, and AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website (http://www.liebertpub.com).

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