Protection Against Vertical Transmission of Pathogenic Infections
Description of Invention:
This invention describes the treatment of pregnant women who are infected with HIV-1 (or other infectious agents that would be harmful to their fetuses and/or newborns) to reduce the risk of vertical transmission of the infectious agents. The treatment could potentially be accomplished by treating the pregnant women with recombinant ribonucleases (RNases), or by immunizing the women with allogeneic leukocytes that could stimulate the production of endogenous RNases. Since alloantigen stimulation of blood leukocytes from healthy individuals results in production of ribonucleases (RNases) that inhibit HIV-1 and HTLV-1 replication, alloimmunization of at risk or infected pregnant females would be protective for their newborns from infection of different pathogens, including HIV-1 and HTLV-1. Thus, this invention may provide a cost effective and a therapeutically effective means of preventing vertical transmission of pathogens, including HIV-1 and HTLV-1.
Inventors:
Drs. Gene Shearer and Maria T. Rugeles (NCI)
For Additional Information Please Contact: Sally Hu PhD MBA
NIH Office of Technology Transfer
6011 Executive Blvd, Suite 325
Rockville, MD 20852-3804
Phone: (301) 435-5606
Email: hus@mail.nih.gov
Fax: (301) 402-0220
