The Michigan Daily - Thursday, December 8, 1995 - 5A
Substances found to stop AIDS virus growth
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON - Scientists have identified a
quartet of substances made by human immune-
system cells that halt the growth of the virus that
causes AIDS.
The substances, which appear to be much better
weapons against the virus than the antibodies that
are churned out to no avail in people with the
disease, have so far proven their mettle only in test
tubes. But researchers said that if the compounds
work as well in people as they do in the laboratory,
they might lead to a new class of drugs that would
keep the AIDS virus in a perpetual deep sleep,
allowing infected individuals to lead normal lives.
The discovery could also promote the develop-
ment of experimental AIDS vaccines that stimu-
late the body's production of these virus-fighting
substances. These might prove more effective
;,an vaccinesthat trigger production ofantibodies
or other immune system components, like the
current generation of vaccines being tested.
"We'll have to wait and see what happens, but
it's very strong work," said Dani Bolognesi, direc-
tor of the Center for AIDS Research at Duke
University. "It represents alongsought-afterprize."
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Insti-
tute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he
was heartened by the work but warned that test-
tube results often don't pan out in patients. "There
is no guarantee that you can give this factor in the
body and it will suppress HIV without doing a lot
of other things you don't want it to do."
The new findings, by a pair of scientific teams
working independently, were rushed into publ ica-
tion by two competing scientific journals and
released yesterday.
One team, led by Robert C. Gallo, the former
National Cancer Institute virologist who in 1985
do-discovered the human immunodeficiency vi-
" rtes that causes AIDS, isolated three substances
made by white blood cells that may account for
much of the body's ability to keep HIV in check
during the early years of infection. Their results
-Will appear in the Dec. 15 issue of Science.
).The second team, led by-Reinhard Kurth of the
Paul Ehrlich Institute in Langen, Germany, de-
scribes an additional HIV-suppressing substance
in today's issue of Nature.
All four substances are secreted by a kind of
white blood-tell. called'CD8 lymphocytes, im-
mune system cells that have long been recognized
askey warriors in the body's valiantbut ultimately
ineffective resistance against HIV. Researchers
Women's
window of
pinpointed
BOSTON (AP)- A myth-quashing
new study pinpoints nature's window
of fertility: There are six days in every
menstrual month when a woman can
get pregnant.
The findings have implications for
couples striving to have children, as
well as for those who want to avoid
them.
"The trick to all this is for couples to
know their fertile days," said Dr. Allen
J. Wilcox. "There is no good way to do
that."
Perhaps the best advice is: Have sex
often.
Until now, estimates of women's fer-
tility ranged from two days in a men-
strual cycle to 10 or more.
The study found that conception is
possible if a woman has intercourse on
the five days before ovulation as well as
on the day her ovaries release a new egg.
Sex before that six-day period almost
certainly will not result in pregnancy,
And intercourse just one day after ovu-
lation won't, either.
The idea that couples should save up
and have intercourse on the day closest
to ovulation turns out to be false.
The study "suggests that you increase
your chance of pregnancy with in-
creased frequency of intercourse," said
Wilcox, its lead author.
Ideally, a couple would want to know
five days in advance when ovulation
will occur and have sex on those days.
Test kits now on the market will reveal
when ovulation is occurring, but by
then it's almost too late.
Couples can keep track of ovulation
over several months to help estimate
when it will occur. This way, they can
guess when their fertile six days will
start.
AP PHOTO
Activists protest a White House conference on AIDS to be held today, calling It a "Clinton re-election gimmick."
have known for almost 10 years that these cclIs can
interfere with HIV's ability to reproduce. The
levels of CD8 cells tend to be high in healthy HIV-
infected individuals, and as these levels eventu-
ally drop, people become ill.
In 1989, researchers led by Jay A. Levy at the
University of California at San Francisco showed
that CD8 cells accomplished this HIV suppression
by producing mysterious antiviral substances, but
for years, no one has succeeded in identifying
them. The report in Science presents evidence that
three proteins called RANTES, MIP-1 alpha and
MIP-1 beta account for most of the HIV suppres-
sion by CD8 cells, while the Nature report sug-
gests that another protein called interleukin-16
also plays a role.
The findings are surprising because all four
proteins have been known to scientists for years as
factors that contribute to inflammation. But none
had been recognized as having antiviral effects.
Gallo, who left the NCI earlier this year to direct
a newly created Institute of Human Virology in
Baltimore, said he does not know yet how the
antiviral proteins work. The proteins apparently
don't block HIV infection but keep the virus from
multiplying within infected cells.
In experiments described in Science, Gallo and
coworkers Fiorenza Cocchi, Paolo Lusso and oth-
ers found that the newly identified proteins
stoppedthe growth of HIV-1 and HIV-2 (the two
major strains of HIV that infect people) as well as
simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), a related
virus that infects monkeys. The team got essen-
tially the same results whether they used proteins
purified from CD8 cells or mass-produced copies.
of made by genetic engineering techniques.
Clinton pledges to protect AIDS funding
s U President tells
activists at White
House conference that
AIDS programs will
keep funding
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON - President
Clinton yesterday pledged to protect
finding and health care programis for
AIDS patients'during'a White House
conference where activists from around
the country asked him to do more to
.ind a cure and a vaccine.
The undertone of the first White
House conference on AIDS and HIV_ -
and the direct complaint of protesters
outside the White House - was that
while Clinton has done more than other
Presidentsto combat AIDS by increased
funding and research, it has not been
.,enough. Several speakers compared the
disease to the civil war in Bosnia and
said the Clinton administration should
put it on the top of its domestic priority
list.
"I support what you're doing for the
;Bosnia people to keep peace and end
the war," said Shawn Sasser, an activist
who introduced Clinton to the more
than 250 people who attended the one-
day conference. "But we also have a
war raging right here for the last 15
years. Let's fight and pay whatever it
costs to defeat the war on AIDS right
here at home."
AIDS is now the leading killer of
Americans between the ages of 25 and
44. Earlier this month, the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention reported
Teachers call
for hands-on
education
1- science
" WASHINGTON (AP) - By grade
four, American schoolchildren should
know that light travels in a straight line
until it hits an object, teachers and sci-
entists recommended yesterday.
By grade eight, they should under-
stand that all'organisms are made of
;ells. And by the time they leave high
*chool, they should know something
about how chemical reactions occur.
Most importantly, throughout all
...crP ctrr~t c hnnlA lierorn ad.,,tt sc.-
people who otherwise would never see
a doctor."
Mark Barnes, executive director of
the AIDS Action Council, a Washing-
ton-based advocacy group, said AIDS
activists attending the meeting were
heartened by Clinton's words, particu-
larly his commitment to federal fund-
ing for AIDS research and to safeguard-
ing the Medicaid program.
"When President Clinton said today
that these (congressional) Medicaid
proposals would be a stake through the
heart of AIDS care, he really offered
some fresh hope to the AIDS commu-
nity," Barnes said. "But the real test of
his leadership is not a speech. The real
test is what he intends to do in the
budget negotiations over the next four
weeks with Congress over the fate of
that Medicaid program."
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I 9
President Clinton greets HIV-positive AIDS activist Sean Sasser during the first
White House conference on AIDS yesterday. Health and Human Services Secretary
Donna Shalala is at the right.
MICHIGAN EDUCATORS INSURANCE AGENCY
that the 500,000th American had been
diagnosed with AIDS and more than
300,000 have died.
After Clinton's opening remarks to
the conference he participated in a dis-
cussion of needle-sharing among ad-
dicts, mandatory AIDS testing and pe-
diatric AIDS.
Where Clinton said he had ordered
the preparation of a government-wide
research plan, including a coordinated
research budget, within 90 days.
He also said he had asked Vice Presi-
dent Al Gore to convene a meeting of
scientists and pharmaceutical industry
leaders to study ways of speeding up
the development of vaccines, thera-
peutics and other ways of protecting
people from HIV and the infections it
causes.
"A cure and a vaccine. That must be
our first and top priority," Clinton told
' the conference. At the end of his speech,
a heckler in the room complained that
the Clinton administration has not done
enough. "I am very sorry that there is
not a cure. I am very sorry that there is
not a vaccine," Clinton replied.
Clinton used the opportunity of the
conference to attack Republican Med-
icaid spending reductions and to pledge
to fight the GOP level of savings. Med-
icaidpays thehealth care costs ofnearly
half of all Americans with AIDS, in-
cluding more than 90 percent of the
children.
"Medicaid is the lifeline of support,"
Clinton said. "It is the one thing that we
have done that has helped us to drive
down infant mortality among poor
1i