BYU Researchers Hope Twins Unlock AIDS Mysteries
- Posted on April 30, 2011 at 9:37pm by
Scott Baker
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BYU
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Researchers at Brigham Young University are trying to unlock some of the mysteries surrounding the virus that causes AIDS with a trio of studies addressing unusual cases involving a set of twins, a failed vaccine and a protein “stop sign.”
The twin identical baby boys received a tainted transfusion and both became HIV-positive a few years ago.
Now, one of the twins has a near-normal immune system and pretty good health, while the other boy is five years behind him on the growth chart and has experienced a number of complications.
BYU
That provocative difference became the foundation of one of the studies, as researchers led by BYU biology department chairman Keith Crandall try to figure out how the virus changed in each twin. They’ve been joined in the study by scientists at the National Cancer Institute.
Crandall said there are competing theories about the differences in their clinical outcomes. One theory is that natural selection drives it, so the results should be similar. The other holds that random genetics plays a role and it therefore cannot be predicted.
A second study focuses on an HIV vaccine scientists in Thailand were trying to develop that proved ineffective. Crandall said they hope samples from that case will help them learn more about how the virus evolved and whether vaccinations to guard against HIV show promise.
“I think the HIV community is still split in terms of how to pursue treatment against HIV infection,” Crandall told the Deseret News.
“There is a strong camp that thinks vaccine is still the way to go. We need to do more intelligent vaccine design,” carefully considering everything they’ve learned in other attempts to create a vaccine that works.
“Others say no way,” he said. “The focus needs to be on drug therapy. But the virus tends to hide out in places where drugs can’t get to them.”
The final study is led by Greg Burton, chairman of BYU’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Xueyuan Zho, a
BYU
student at the University of Colorado’s Health Sciences department. They confirmed an earlier report that a naturally occurring protein prevents HIV from multiplying. But they’ve gone further to explain how the protein works, not just what happens.
“The importance of this study is that we moved ahead from earlier research. The effect was known, but we showed the mechanism,” Burton said.
___
Information from: Deseret News, http://www.deseretnews.com
Editor’s note: This YouTube clip is over a year old, but you can get a sense of Keith Crandall’s enthusiasm for the research:
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caazilin
Posted on May 2, 2011 at 2:53pmDoes anybody screen these articles before they put on here. This article had no new data to reveal at all. What was the point.
Report Post »rightwingheroes
Posted on May 2, 2011 at 9:41amMay God bless everyone involved in this study. God willing, they will find the cure.
Report Post »TopOfTheMuffin2u
Posted on May 2, 2011 at 9:25amMaybe the vaccine they received were different. One may have been ineffective due to strtength differences. There are many scenarios that are not discussed.
Report Post »JaneLovesJesus
Posted on May 2, 2011 at 4:47amhow do you get HIV from a transfusion???????????? Haven’t they been testing the blood supply for like 20 years now?
Report Post »Bearfoot
Posted on May 2, 2011 at 11:47amJane…
There is no guarantee of a clean blood supply and diseases from the donors are often transferred to the recipient of blood transfusions.
Jehovah’s Witnesses request nonblood alternatives, which are widely used and accepted by the medical community. We do this because of the Bible’s command to “keep abstaining from . . . blood.” (Acts 15:29; see also Genesis 9:3, 4; Leviticus 7:26, 27; 17:1, 2, 10-12; Deuteronomy 12:23-25.)
While we refuse blood for religious rather than medical reasons, many have acknowledged that this refusal has helped the Witnesses to avoid contracting many costly and fatal diseases such as AIDS and hepatitis.
Report Post »SYLVIA1969
Posted on May 1, 2011 at 5:10pmI just read all the bible passages Bearfoot spoke of and from what I understand it is more about eating blood.Like making blood some kind of a food or something.And also respect for the life of the animal you will eat.I think it is a stretch to include blood transfusions.I think life is the most important thing to God and that’s why he made it possible for humans to be able to give some of their life to sustain the life of another.I could be wrong,but I don’t think God will send anyone to hell or giving life through blood.And if so,I know a lot of good Christians that will be splitting hell wide open then.Maybe God needs to clarify this for us somehow.
Report Post »WhiteFang
Posted on May 1, 2011 at 10:23pmSylvia1969,
God told his people (the Israelites) not to eat or drink blood of any creature. They were to drain the blood from a newly slaughtered animal they were to use as food. The blood drained was to be poured out on the ground and not used for any purpose.
The same command was carried over to apply to Christians also.
Since it was not to be used for food and they were to keep free of blood, then why would it be acceptable to pump it into our body?
This commandment to keep free of blood issued from our Almighty Creator, our splendid God.
Report Post »Out of respect for His sovereignty over heaven and earth, I should, and do obey his command.
sadmanwhossane
Posted on May 1, 2011 at 1:37pmbabies look like little aliens, i have my first pic along with my two daughters together and we all 3 look like little aliens.
Report Post »TheGreyPiper
Posted on May 1, 2011 at 12:46pmYet there are still butt—-ers out there who scream it is somehow a “right” for them to give blood.
Report Post »Bret
Posted on May 1, 2011 at 11:10amOops, we gave them aids, so now lets study them… Sick!
Report Post »CHICAGOTHUGBUCKET
Posted on May 1, 2011 at 10:29amI can’t wait until we no longer can sue the government health system and blood screening is too costly for Obama care 2020 to pay for. Why we are giving over our babies health to the state is beyond me. I prey for these children and thank god for the ability to hear this story and know of the doctors doing gods work as he intended.
Report Post »DianeCee
Posted on May 1, 2011 at 8:30amI hope the parents of these innocent babies sued the pants off of the hospital that administered “safe” treatment. We the people are pawns for many issues in this world. Keep your children far from the hands that have bad intent.
Report Post »DaveOregon
Posted on May 1, 2011 at 1:53amAgree with Podvet – anyone passing on AIDS/HIV knowingly should be charged with attempted murder at least – changed to murder if anyone contracts the disease. There is no justifyable reason for knowingly passing tainted blood or having unprotected sex if you have the disease – non, nada, nyet.
Report Post »POdVet
Posted on May 1, 2011 at 12:53amI’d prefer to just make the identities of anyone with Aids public knowledge. Had they done what they SHOULD have done in the first place millions of people who have become infected and died worldwide would not have. It is just amazing to me how political correctness has taken a horrible disease that CAN NOT be passed on by casual contact and made it nearly mainstream. There has been case after case after case of people with HIV/Aids intentionally passing it on to others. Stealing others identities and donating blood when they know they have it. When will the PC BS stop and we start charging the people intentionally passing it to others with the Murder 2 Depraved Indifference they are guilty of!?!
Report Post »BonnieBlueFlag
Posted on April 30, 2011 at 11:30pmGod bless these scientists doing God’s work.
Report Post »Valerius Poplicola
Posted on April 30, 2011 at 10:47pmDoes anyone find it disturbing that these babies received a blood transfusion “a few years ago” and it was HIV positive? I am serious, don’t ever give me blood from the blood bank. PASS.
Report Post »Bearfoot
Posted on April 30, 2011 at 11:25pmValerius Poplicola,
You are wise not to accept a blood transfusion.
Report Post »Want to read something interesting? Acts 15:20, 29, and 21:25
BonnieBlueFlag
Posted on April 30, 2011 at 11:35pm@Valerius
If you receive HIV tainted blood at this point in your life, you will probably live to a similar age as you would have without contracting HIV, provided you live a clean life and take the antiretrovirals.
If you are in a car accident and lose enough blood, you will probably die there on the OR table if you do not accept blood.
It’s your choice, but I’ll take the HIV tainted blood over imminent death. People are not generally given blood transfusions for the fun of it. (This transfusion probably happened in another country anyway.)
Report Post »LetUsReason
Posted on April 30, 2011 at 11:37pmIs this why “Jay-Dubbs” don’t get blood transfusions? Fair enough. Now if I could only understand the birthday thing…
Report Post »Bearfoot
Posted on April 30, 2011 at 11:54pmLetUsReason,
Why not ask them, when they come around next time?
Report Post »LetUsReason
Posted on May 1, 2011 at 12:30amI have. They gave me a Watchtower that talked about spawning salmon….I immediately went out and bought Planet Earth. Best investment ever!
Report Post »Curbhunter
Posted on May 1, 2011 at 9:29amBearfoot,
Report Post »Those passages are not talking about bloodtransfussions. But hey what ever.
Bearfoot
Posted on May 1, 2011 at 11:24amCurbhunter,
Of course not, they did not have blood transfusion procedures in the days of the apostles.
But do you think it would be according to God’s approval to inject blood directly into our veins and bypass the eating of it, or the drinking of it?
The principle we should respect is found in Leviticus 17:11-14, Deuteronomy 12:23, Genesis 9:4
Either you respect God‘s instructions and viewpoint or you don’t. It is up to you.
Report Post »As for me and millions of others, we have firmly resolved not to take blood into our bodies.
BonnieBlueFlag
Posted on May 1, 2011 at 1:19pm@Bearfoot
So shellfish and swine are out, too? What about stoning a person to death who at the word of two witnesses has worshipped the sun or the moon? (or a disobedient son, or a non-virgin woman, or an adulterer) That is from Deuteronomy as well.
Everything you quote is from the Old Testament and I guarantee you *are* picking and choosing God’s commandments. A major factor of the New Testament is that we don’t have to stone people like primitives, and life-saving blood transfusions are a bit different from cannibalism.
Report Post »Bearfoot
Posted on May 1, 2011 at 2:19pmBonnieBlueFlag,
Above, early in this comment string I have encouraged the reading of Acts 15:20, 29 and 21:25 which is in Greek scriptures.
The prohibition of consuming blood is therefore also a command for Christians.
If you want a blood transfusion, then fine, accept it. That is your choice, but do not condemn me for taking God’s word seriously.
Report Post »dealer@678
Posted on April 30, 2011 at 10:09pmThe innocent of this disease is the most heartbreaking
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on May 1, 2011 at 12:34amTrue, and sad they would be born with that. However, with life there is always hope.
Report Post »BetterDays
Posted on April 30, 2011 at 10:01pmAs a father pf paternal twins, I feel quite akin to the parents as well as these children. I pray that the doctors are able to discover the why of it, and then use their discovery to help others suffering this disease. God help them, please.
Report Post »tersky
Posted on May 1, 2011 at 12:34amYou mean _fraternal_, right?
Report Post »thebarbarian
Posted on May 1, 2011 at 1:24amwe got what you ment betterdays. it’s almost01:30 . made a few typos myself.
Report Post »LibertyGoddess
Posted on April 30, 2011 at 9:44pmI would never have my children get an immunization that does not affect the general population. Aids is directly linked to specific risky behaviors. Yes, some innocents have been roped in by “tainted infusions” as the case was with these twins, but it still does not warrant the rest of society having to endure being lab rats.
Report Post »teahugger
Posted on April 30, 2011 at 10:05pmThe children received tainted blood transfusions and were not guinea pigs for the vaccine. People have to sign consents in order to be part of a study, and they wouldn’t use children. I don’t think we are at risk here of some governmental conspiracy…at least not in the area of aids research!
Report Post »Old Truckers
Posted on May 1, 2011 at 4:21pmAt work one day, a guy asked me if I was worried about contracting AIDS.
I told him, no, I was not worried about it because I do not do the things by which I could get it.
I do not fornicate, commit adultery, use drugs, and I do not take blood transfusions. I stay away from homosexuals and persons who have AIDS. It is a communicably acquired disease you know.
The way I see it, keep yourself clean from these situations and you have nothing to worry about.
Report Post »EqualJustice
Posted on April 30, 2011 at 9:39pmOMG! That is the sweetist pciture ever of those babies!! :)
Report Post »Annie Fields
Posted on April 30, 2011 at 10:15pmMy (female) twins slept together in a bassinet until about 5 months old. One twin would snap her arms back at the elbow, the back of her hand slamming into her twin’s face, which, remarkably, did not bother her in the slightest. I guess after 9 months in the crowded condo of my tummy made the bassinet seems like mcmansion… As to the “natural selection” nature of viral attractiveness, I would submit that predisposition of one sort or another is what is at work with autism, too (I have Asperger’s, one twin has autism, the other, p.d.d.). My girls were not harmed by vaccines, they were born the way they are. But I believe that some children, predisposed to mercury toxicity, were harmed, but who knows? Why do some people smoke like chimneys but drink only a little? Drink like fish but can smoke twice a year? I’ve long believed the answer is predisposition and the roulette wheel of fate…
Report Post »dealer@678
Posted on April 30, 2011 at 10:20pmAnnie, that did’nt make one bit of dam sense
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on April 30, 2011 at 10:40pmALL babies are cute; they are among the greatest gifts of God in the world. Within them is the future that will be built upon our foundations. For the one showing the HIV the most I pray the Almighty will cure the virus, along with the twin as well so full recoveries and full lives for both and their family can be made unto the world.
Report Post »flyoverbob
Posted on April 30, 2011 at 10:40pmYes,beautiful picture.it’s a shame so many innocent people have been victms .I dont understand how contaminated blood is still being used .I do believe someone should be held criminally liable for this.I don’t mean the company,I mean the person that sold it to the blood bank and the person who was suppose to test it.They should go to prison.
Report Post »Annie Fields
Posted on April 30, 2011 at 10:50pmTo Dealer@678
Report Post »…Sorry about that. Hazard of my Aspie mind… *blush* All I meant to say is that whether we are talking about AIDS, autism, or addiction, the “mystery” of why some “get it” and others don’t is predisposition. Some people sleep with everybody and never get AIDS and others have one encounter and are sick. Some kids get a shot and get autism, other kids get same shot and don’t. And the thing about addiction has always fascinated me, that’s all. I’ve just always thought it was wild that some people can smoke only when they drink, you know? It’s all so random, I’ve just concluded that there is something in our make up, our genetic predisposition that tilts us this way or that… Sorry it was so clumsily said. I‘ve been reading 18th century texts for 15 hours and I’m getting punchy… ;)
dealer@678
Posted on April 30, 2011 at 10:52pmSnow, Not all babies are cute. In fact most are down right ugly. Walk through a maternity in Dallas but dont eat before you go
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on April 30, 2011 at 11:21pm@Dealer678:
Try dealing with as many deaths and accidents in which people are burned, scarred and maimed in more ways than one could imagine save for those who work in the ER’s or battlefields; to me, any baby born is cute, they are the beauty of the world, for they are life and Gods gift for the future.
That is why to me all babies are beautiful.
And the pictures of me when I was born are HOMELY to the max.
Report Post »AzDebi
Posted on May 1, 2011 at 1:19am@Annie Fields:
To Dealer@678
…Sorry about that.”
___________________
Hey…you aren’t punchy…Dealer is! I understood you on your first post and I haven’t been reading 18th Century text all day…
Each human being is unique…my son was treated for cancer at the age of 3…there was also another boy with the same type of cancer who was also in Stage IV…both were treated with the same protocol…my son lived and is alive today…Jimmy, the other boy, did not survive a year…AND…of course…let’s not discount the power of prayer…mine was answered!
Report Post »___________________
@Dealer…maybe you should have a drink or a cig and maybe even BOTH! Getting a lil’ cranky, aren’t we?
thebarbarian
Posted on May 1, 2011 at 1:20am@ Annie please you don’y have to apologize. everyone gets a little loopy after that much reading. i come to the Blaze to take a break from reading just to more reading ..lol.
Report Post »@ dealer.
i personally can’t think of very much at all that comes close to the wonder and beuty in life: especially babies.
Libertyluvnmomma
Posted on May 2, 2011 at 9:42amThat is a stock photo.
It is nice to know tainted blood transfusions are still out there.
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