Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

Gene therapy used to fight AIDS

The apparent success of a case in which German doctors cured a man of AIDS using a bone marrow transplant comes as no surprise to Gerhard Bauer, a UC Davis stem cell researcher.

8 Dec 2008

Effects of stem cell source and patient age on stem cell transplantation outcomes

Two studies examining the effects of stem cell source and patient age on stem cell transplantation outcomes were explored at a press conference on Sunday, December 7 during the 50th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology in San Francisco, CA.

8 Dec 2008

Scientists pinpoint immune-system targets in complex pathogens

Our immune cells have an amazingly intricate recognition system to detect invading pathogens. Often, the intricacies have overwhelmed scientists who want to know exactly what gives an alarm signal to T cells, a class of white blood cells that recognizes invaders.

7 Dec 2008

Hep C treatment peginterferon reduces the virus but liver damage continues

Treating patients who have chronic hepatitis C and advanced liver disease with long-term pegylated interferon significantly decreased their liver enzymes, viral levels and liver inflammation, but the treatment did not slow or prevent the progression of serious liver disease, a study finds.

5 Dec 2008

Well-armed immune cells help long-term non-progressors contain HIV

To help develop an effective HIV vaccine, researchers are trying to better understand how the immune systems of a small minority of HIV-infected people known as long-term non-progressors (LTNPs) contain the virus naturally.

5 Dec 2008

Breakthrough in understanding the phenomenon of nucleolar dominance

Since the machinery involved in nucleolar dominance is some of the same machinery that can go haywire in diseases such as cancer, Pikaard and his collaborators' research may have important implications for applied medical research.

5 Dec 2008

Interferon as long-term treatment for hepatitis C not effective

Use of the drug interferon as a long-term maintenance strategy to slow the progression of liver disease associated with the hepatitis C virus is ineffective, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers and their colleagues from nine other institutions have found in a multicenter study.

5 Dec 2008

Extraordinary immune cells may hold the key to managing HIV

People who manage to control HIV on their own are providing scientists with valuable information about how the immune system eliminates virus-infected cells.

5 Dec 2008

Low-dose peginterferon used for hepatitis C doesn't work

An NIH funded multi-center clinical trial found no benefit from "maintenance therapy," low-dose peginterferon used for hepatitis C patients who have not responded to an initial round of treatment.

3 Dec 2008

Potential new target for drugs to prevent HIV-associated dementia

A new study led by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University has clarified how two major variants of HIV differ in their ability to cause neurologic complications.

3 Dec 2008

Gene therapy used to alleviate sickle cell disease pathology

Using a harmless virus to insert a corrective gene into mouse blood cells, scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have alleviated sickle cell disease pathology.

3 Dec 2008

Interferon needed for cells to 'remember' how to defeat a virus

Scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center have determined that the immune-system protein interferon plays a key role in "teaching" the immune system how to fight off repeated infections of the same virus.

3 Dec 2008

New vaccine theory aimed at ticks and mosquitoes to prevent disease transmission

Most successful vaccines and drugs rely on protecting humans or animals by blocking certain bacteria from growing in their systems.

3 Dec 2008

PNG struggling to come to terms with HIV/AIDS epidemic

While the rest of the world acknowledged World AIDS Day this week in a number of ways, Papua New Guinea (PNG) appears to be struggling to come to terms with the HIV/AIDS epidemic which threatens the population.

3 Dec 2008

European research effort pushes towards cervical cancer cure

Every year, tens of thousands of women die in the EU from cervical cancer because the disease is not detected and treated at an early enough stage. A multidisciplinary European research effort plans to change that.

2 Dec 2008

Living in deprived areas of England doubles cervical cancer risk

Women living in the most deprived areas of England are nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed with cervical cancer than their affluent counterparts - according to a report presented by national cancer director Professor Mike Richards at the Britain Against Cancer conference today (Tuesday).

2 Dec 2008

ViroPharma Inc. submits sBLA for Cinryze to treat acute attacks of hereditary angioedema

ViroPharma Inc. has announced that the company submitted a supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Cinryze C1 Inhibitor (human) as a treatment for acute attacks of hereditary angioedema (HAE).

1 Dec 2008

GeoVax's HIV/AIDS human vaccine trials to begin in North and South America

GeoVax Labs, Inc. has announced that the launch of its Phase 2a Human Vaccine Trials will take place in twelve sites across North and South America.

1 Dec 2008

College students vaccinated against influenza less likely to develop flu-like illnesses

College students who are vaccinated against influenza appear less likely to develop flu-like illnesses, require related health care visits or experience impairments in academic performance during flu season, according to a report in the December issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

1 Dec 2008

Antibiotics causing most drug-induced liver injury

Antibiotics are the single largest class of agents that cause idiosyncratic drug-induced liver injury (DILI), reports a new study in Gastroenterology, an official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute.

1 Dec 2008