U. researchers discover new weapon in war against AIDS

University Medical School researchers propose a groundbreaking new avenue of attack against the AIDS virus in an article to be published today. David Weiner, an assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, is the principle author of an article appearing in today's issue of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In the article, Weiner explains the that he has discovered a way to inhibit the production of the HIV virus in the laboratory using the abortion drug, RU-486. This new discovery hints at a future means to inhibit the virus in humans. According to Weiner, a little-known viral protein called "Vpr" pirates a cellular route utilized by certain steriod hormones to enter the cell nucleus. This allows the virus to quickly transmit its deadly message. Weiner and research team members David Levy and Yoesef Refaeli targeted Vpr -- which stimulates viral growth and decreases cell production in test tubes --Eand discovered the cellular pathway it uses to infect cells, Medical School spokesperson Lisa Bain said in a statement. Vpr follows a pathway that occurs naturally in the body and is vital to the nervous, endocrine and immune systems and effects metabolism, Bain stated. The cell is then forced to assist the virus in the progression of the disease. Weiner said that this link could help to explain some of the symptoms of the AIDS virus. "The fact that HIV pirates this pathway is not a good thing," he explained. Inhibition of the steriod hormones involved with the transmission of Vpr into the nucleus could lead to a new class of AIDS medications, Wiener added. In the study, which represents the culmination of over five years of research, Weiner tested a known steriod pathway suppressor, RU-486, to block the passage of the virus into the nucleus. Weiner reported that RU-486 inhibited viral growth approximately 70 percent in infected cells. However, Weiner cautioned that because many other body hormones use this pathway, the negative effects might counteract any possible benefit from the drug. Weiner also noted that it is too early to determine the effects the drug could have in humans. The medicine is currently only in the "planning stages" for clinical trials with the National Institutes of Health. In the worst-case scenario, the drug might force the body to overcompensate by making more steriod hormones and therefore increasing the rate of HIV infection. He also said that human testing would have to be very closely monitored due to potentially unforeseen side effects of the drug. Weiner also noted that the primary research into the virus can lead to advances in the function of other diseases as well.