(Press-News.org) Published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases Oxford Academic, research led by the University of Minnesota Medical School offers a new avenue of hope in the fight against chronic human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection.
The researchers explored the use of Natural Killer (NK) cells aiming to restore their function for better infection control — an approach that could be used in a broader HIV cure strategy as multiple companies are working on mass production of healthy NK cells.
“HIV has really excellent therapies thanks to the unprecedented progress in developing antiretroviral therapy, but even with that, the disease still causes early mortality and significant medical problems, and a cure is desperately needed,” said Tim Schacker, MD, the principal investigator and program director in HIV Medicine at the U of M Medical School.
NK cells are a frontline defense against viral infections. HIV can disable these cells, making it difficult to clear the infection. The research involved providing HIV-positive individuals with an infusion of healthy NK cells obtained from a close relative along with the drug N-803 from ImmunityBio, which enhances NK activity. All participants in this early-stage study experienced a marked decrease in the burden of infection, and the procedures were found to be safe and well-tolerated.
While acknowledging the high cost and limited scalability of this approach for the over 35 million infected people worldwide, the study offers important insight into possible cure strategies by demonstrating that enhancing NK cell function can substantially reduce HIV burden.
Pending NIH funding, the research team plans a larger study combining NK cells with N-803 plus an HIV-specific broadly neutralizing antibody — similar to what was successfully used to treat COVID-19 — to determine if the combination can lead to even further reductions in the burden of infection and get us another step closer to curing HIV.
Funding was provided by The American Federation for AIDS Research (AMFAR).
END
U of M research advances potential HIV cure strategy
2024-02-14
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
New review finds Indigenous people more likely to have a stroke
2024-02-14
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2024
MINNEAPOLIS – Indigenous people may be more likely to have a stroke than non-Indigenous people, according to a systematic review that looked at populations around the world. The review is published in the February 14, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Researchers looked at countries with a very high Human Development Index, which measures average achievements in three areas: health, knowledge ...
UC Irvine-led research team creates novel rabies viral vectors for neural circuit mapping
2024-02-14
Irvine, Calif., Feb. 14, 2024 — A research team led by the University of California, Irvine has created 20 new recombinant rabies viral vectors for neural circuit mapping that offer a range of significant advantages over existing tools, including the ability to detect microstructural changes in models of aging and Alzheimer’s disease brain neurons.
The study published today online in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, introduced proof-of-concept data demonstrating the power of these new vectors, which express a range of improved ...
Broad Institute 2024 Media Boot Camp
2024-02-14
The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard is now accepting applications for its 2024 Media Boot Camp.
This annual program connects health/science journalists and editors with faculty from the Broad Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and Harvard’s teaching hospitals for a two-day event exploring the latest advances in genomics and biomedicine. Journalists will explore possible future storylines, gain fundamental background knowledge, and build relationships with researchers. The program format ...
MEDIA ADVISORY: Mount Sinai doctors to present new research at 2024 SMFM Annual Pregnancy Meeting
2024-02-14
(New York, NY – February 9, 2024) – High-risk pregnancy specialists from the Mount Sinai Health System are presenting research at the Annual Pregnancy Meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) in Fort Washington, MD from February 10-14. Mount Sinai experts are available for interview about their research findings, and can also provide commentary on other women’s health topics, breaking news, and studies.
PRESENTATIONS and POSTER SESSIONS
(*All abstracts are under embargo until the below listed times*)
Sunday, February 11, 2024
FGR prevention: Is there a role for aspirin, heparin, ...
Significantly fewer births on weekends and holidays than weekdays, data analysis of over 21 million births from 1979-2018 in Japan shows
2024-02-14
Significantly more babies were born on a weekday instead of weekend day or holiday, reveals a large-scale analysis of 21 million births in Japan over almost four decades published February 14, 2024 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Miho Sassa from the University of Tokyo, Japan, and colleagues.
Medical resources are generally stretched during holidays (including weekends) due to factors like staffing and hospital policies. This may amplify holiday effects: disparities and variations of health outcomes between holidays and weekdays. Dr. Sassa and colleagues studied this holiday effect with a focus on birth, especially high-risk births as measured by babies born preterm ...
Vittrup Man crossed over from forager to farmer before being sacrificed in Denmark
2024-02-14
Vittrup Man was born along the Scandinavian coast before moving to Denmark, where he was later sacrificed, according to a study published February 14, 2024 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Anders Fischer of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden and colleagues.
Vittrup Man is the nickname of a Stone Age skeleton recovered from a peat bog in Northwest Denmark, dating to between 3300-3100 BC. The fragmented nature of the remains, including a smashed skull, indicate that he was killed in a ritualistic sacrifice, a common practice in this region at this time. After a DNA study found Vittrup Man’s genetic ...
Some Pre-Roman humans were buried with dogs, horses and other animals
2024-02-14
Some people from an ancient community in what is now northern Italy were interred with animals and animal parts from species such as dogs, horses and pigs. The reasons remain mysterious, but might indicate an enduring companion relationship between these humans and animals, or religious sacrificial practices, according to a study published February 14, 2023 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Zita Laffranchi from the University of Bern, Stefania Zingale from the Institute for Mummy Studies, Eurac Research Bozen, ...
Reported marital harmony—or conflict—accounts for nearly ten percent of the variation in mental health self-assessments in a broad study of Australian adults
2024-02-14
Australian adults who report a good relationship that meets their original expectations tend to score higher in mental health, while adults who report loving their spouse but wished they had never entered the relationship and note relationship problems tend to score significantly lower in mental health, according to a survey of almost 7000 Australian adults published February 14, 2024 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Bernard Kwadwo Yeboah Asiamah-Asare and colleagues.
Many recent studies have examined the possible social determinants of mental health. In this study, Yeboah Asiamah-Asare and colleagues looked specifically at how one’s ...
Just a few sites of exceptional fossil preservation may significantly distort the phylogenetic record for birds, scaly reptiles and dinosaurs
2024-02-14
Just a few sites of exceptional fossil preservation may significantly distort the phylogenetic record for birds, scaly reptiles and dinosaurs
###
Article URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0297637
Article Title: Quantifying the effects of exceptional fossil preservation on the global availability of phylogenetic data in deep time
Author Countries: USA
Funding: CHW: Richard Estes Memorial Award (No grant number); Society of Vertebrate Paleontology; www.vertpaleo.org; NO - CHW: Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Grant (No grant number); American Museum of Natural History; www.amnh.org; NO - CHW: EAR-PF 2305564; ...
Emojis are differently interpreted depending on gender, culture, and age of viewer
2024-02-14
Gender, culture, and age all appear to play a role in how emojis are interpreted, according to a study published February 14, 2024 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Yihua Chen, Xingchen Yang and colleagues from the University of Nottingham, UK.
Stylized images of faces expressing different emotions, emojis can add both emotional nuance as well as potential ambiguity to electronic messages.
To understand how gender, age, and culture may influence emoji interpretation, Chen, Yang and colleagues recruited a group of 253 Chinese and 270 UK adults (51 percent women and 49 percent ...