Researchers,
including a BYU scientist, believe they have found a new compound that could
finally kill the HIV/AIDS virus, not just slow it down as current treatments do.
And, unlike the expensive, drug cocktails 25 years of
research have produced for those with the deadly virus, the compound invented by
Paul D. Savage of Brigham
Young
University
appears to hunt down and kill HIV.
Although so far
limited to early test tube studies, CSA-54, one of a family of compounds called
Ceragenins (or CSAs), mimics the disease-fighting characteristics of
anti-microbial and anti-viral agents produced naturally by a healthy human
immune system.
Under a study sponsored by Ceragenix
Pharmaceuticals, Savage and his colleagues developed and synthesized the
compound for Vanderbilt
University's
School
of Medicine.
In his Nashville,
Tenn.,
laboratories, Derya Unutmaz, an associate professor of Microbiology and
Immunology, tested several CSAs for their ability to kill HIV.
While issuing a cautious caveat about his early results,
Unutmaz acknowledged Monday that CSAs could be the breakthrough HIV/AIDS
researchers have sought for so long.
"We received these
agents [from BYU] in early October and our initial results began to culminate by
November 2005. We have since reproduced all our results many times," he said.
"We have some preliminary but very exciting results [but] we would like to
formally show this before making any claims that would cause unwanted hype."
What studies to date show is a compound that attacks HIV
at its molecular membrane level, disrupting the virus from interacting with
their primary targets, the "T-helper" class white blood cells that comprise and
direct the human immune system. Further, CSAs appear to be deadly to all known
strains of HIV.
That would be a welcome development for
the estimated 40.3 million people now living with HIV/AIDS globally, including
nearly 5 million newly infected in the past year alone.
"We have devoted considerable resources to understand the mechanism of these
compounds. We think this knowledge will enable us in collaboration with Dr.
Savage to design even better compounds," Unutmaz said.
In
addition to being a potential checkmate to HIV, the compounds show indications
of being just as effective against other diseases plaguing humankind - among
them influenza, possibly even the dread bird flu, along with smallpox and
herpes.
Savage said he and his BYU research team had been
studying CSAs for eight years, noting the compounds' value against microbial and
bacteria infections. It was only a year ago they saw that CSAs killed viruses,
too.
"They kill viruses very effectively and in a way
paralleling our own, natural defenses," Savage said, noting that beyond the
obvious use as a weapon against the AIDS pandemic, CSAs could help many others
with non-HIV immune deficiencies.
Further, the compounds
appear to have few limits on how they are delivered to patients. Although early
indications are for application
of
CSAs with an ointment or cream, pills or injections may also be developed - if
the compound gets to market.
BYU and Vanderbilt have
jointly filed a patent on CSA technology, which has been licensed exclusively to
Ceragenix.
Ceragenix CEO and Chairman Steven Porter said
only further research will tell, but he was optimistic about the application of
CSAs in the war on HIV/AIDS. There are indications that it could help battle
antibiotic- and antiviral-resistance strains of disease as they manifest
themselves.
"We are encouraged . . . that CSAs may
provide a completely unique family of anti-infectives, potentially active
against a wide range of viral, fungal and bacterial targets, including those
resistant to current therapies," he said.
Assuming
continued positive test results in animal and eventual human trials, Porter
estimates it could be three to seven years before the compound is available by
prescription. That transition could be accelerated, however, if the Food and
Drug Administration should decide to fast-track the drug.
That day is still a long way off, though. First, researchers plan to publish
their results in scientific journals, seeking peer review and independent
confirmation of their findings. Assuming no flaws are found, several rounds of
testing would follow.
Most of the nation's leading AIDS
experts were attending the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic
Infections in Denver
on Monday. The event's policies prohibits on-site news conferences or releases
during the conference, and efforts to reach scientists there were not
successful.
Of the few AIDS research luminaries reached,
all said they preferred not to comment on the Vanderbilt tests until full
results are published.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
l Paul Savage and his
Brigham
Young
University
research team have invented CSA-54, a chemical compound that holds the promise
of killing the HIV virus.
l CSA-54
is one of a family of compounds called Ceragenins that mimic the
disease-fighting characteristics of a healthy human immune system.
l Tests at
Vanderbilt
University
indicate the BYU compound also could be effective against influenza, small pox
and herpes.
l Assuming continued
positive results, CSA-54 could be available in three to seven
years