Herpes Virus Changes Anti-Herpes Drug to Form that Hinders AIDS Virus
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Brief Description:
Researchers have found that an old drug shows new promise for
treating AIDS.
Transcript:
Balintfy: Researchers have found that an old drug shows new
promise for treating AIDS. Dr. Leonid Margolis from the Eunice
Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development, notes that the drug, acyclovir, has a long history.
Margolis: It's a well known drug which was developed almost
thirty years ago and can treat against herpes virus.
Balintfy: Dr. Margolis explains that in a recent series of experiments,
the drug suppressed herpes the way it was supposed to, but also
suppressed HIV.
Margolis: And that was a kind of miracle because it should not
be suppressed.
Balintfy: He points out that acyclovir is one of the most specific
drugs in medicine.
Margolis: It should only work against herpes virus and not against
HIV and that was tested many times.
Balintfy: Dr. Margolis's initial experiments, however, were
conducted in tissue samples. His research team then took additional
steps to avoid mixing HIV with any herpes viruses by testing
cells.
Margolis: We confirmed what people had done before us that acyclovir
doesn't suppress HIV in cell lines, but in tissues it does suppress,
so that was the question: how? So we decided since it was again
proven that acyclovir is so specific about herpes that somehow
herpes is involved in this process.
Balintfy: According to Dr. Margolis, the study findings show
that when acyclovir is taken up by a cell infected with herpes
viruses, the virus chemically alters the drug, adding a chemical
compound called a phosphate group. Then the altered acyclovir
interferes with the AIDS virus' ability to reproduce. For more
on this study, visit www.nichd.nih.gov. This is Joe Balintfy,
National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.