A type of statistical analysis used to study high-energy physics and stock market fluctuations could yield a new angle of attack in the fight against the virus that causes AIDS. A surgical strike on specific, steadfast sectors of HIV could lead to new drugs or vaccines, according to a new study.
HIV has been so difficult to fight in part because it is such an adept mutant. It produces sloppy copies of itself as it replicates, leading to many variations that can withstand drugs and vaccines. And it can produce 100 billion new virus particles every day, as Ed Yong points out over at Discover, which leads to lots and lots of copies. Broad-spectrum drugs or vaccines can’t do very much against a target that morphs so quickly.
But not all the pieces of HIV mutate with such abandon, according to this new study. Some groups of amino acids known as HIV sectors are somewhat less fickle, staying the same while the rest of the virus morphs, according to researchers at the Ragon Institute, a research group bridging MIT, Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital. Researchers believe these sites must remain unchanged for the virus to survive and replicate properly.Researchers led by HIV research pioneer Bruce Walker and MIT chemical engineering professor Arup Chakraborty say this stalwart section of the virus can be turned against it. If the immune system can be trained to attack all the amino acid portions in an HIV sector, the virus will either have to mutate to thwart the attack — thereby undermining its structural integrity, crippling itself — or not mutate, which would render it helpless against drugs or vaccines.
This new targeted approach came from Chakraborty, who thought Walker and colleagues were too limited in their search for solutions, Yong reports. The team turned to random matrix theory, developed in the 1950s to solve nuclear physics problems and which has been used to analyze stocks, as the Wall Street Journal notes. It can pinpoint correlations between groups of objects, so it can assess how one stock is linked to other groups of stocks, for instance.
Working with HIV proteins taken from a massive database, the team used random matrix theory to analyze HIV’s genetic code and find groups of amino acids whose mutations were coordinated. The segment that mutated the least was dubbed sector 3, on an HIV sector known as Gag, which makes up HIV’s honeycombed inner shell. If the shell mutates, the honeycomb won’t lock together, and the virus would collapse.
“Multiple mutations within this sector are very rare, indicating previously unrecognized multidimensional constraints on HIV evolution,” the authors write in a paper on their research, which is published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Incidentally, a rare group of patients who can fight HIV without drugs — known as “elite controllers” — use their own immune systems to attack sector 3.
All this suggests a new way of thinking about HIV treatment, the WSJ and others point out. Perhaps HIV drugs should dispense with the full-on assault and opt for targeted strikes instead.
Buoyed by this research, other teams are reportedly already planning new animal studies to test just that.
Five amazing, clean technologies that will set us free, in this month's energy-focused issue. Also: how to build a better bomb detector, the robotic toys that are raising your children, a human catapult, the world's smallest arcade, and much more.


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Wow. We've just about got Pestilence covered, don't we? One down, three to go.
Rock it, scientists!
We found a common chemical that can strip off the outer shell of the HIV virus.
Because it takes three days for our antibodies to find, decode and then replicate antibodies, they can not defeat the HIV virus because it changes its outer shell in the meantime. As the article states, the inner shell doesn't change.
So this common chemical strips off the outer coat and exposes the unchanging inner shell to our antibodies. So when they come back in three days, they can still recognize and destroy it.
The problem was a man infected by HIV virus who was receiving this treatment as well as a ineffective treatment from a medical doctor. The doctor thought it unusual that his patient was improving in health. So the doctor found out who was treating the patient and had him run out of town! So much for the AMA wanting to heal this people.
The other problem is that it is very difficult for HIV patients to change their lifestyles and therefore, after they have been cured of the virus, reacquire it later on.
Energy healers, using hyperspace physics techniques, can instantaneously remove all viral, fungal and bacterial infections from the body. The viruses are moved into co-dimensions where they are converted into energy due to the low speed of light there.
Surprisingly, the infection appears as a 2D display of red dots on an outline of the patient's body. Using the energy hands, the red dots are pulled out of the outline and the patient is virus free.
I am glad to see this article because when I described the virus several years ago and its treatment, I received a lot of nasty emails from doctors calling it total BS.
I apologize for saying so, John, but the 'energy healers' sound like complete BS to me too....
As a side note, many people believe that AIDS is God's way of dealing with promiscuously sexual people... if that's the case, no cure will ever be found... prevention is the best medicine anyway, God or no God.
This is great. I have to wonder though, if a full cure for aids was discovered, how much would our obscenely greedy pharmaceutics companies want to charge for it?
@shutterpod - It is not BS because, for example, our energy healing group was confronted with a baby girl who had Abducens disease. She could not turn her eyes to the left due to degenerate nerves on that side.
The doctors did not know what to do because it would involve brain surgery, and then how do you restore nerves that are degenerate?
So we had four sessions for the baby, two per month. Then we received a call from the father who told us that his daughter had 20/20 vision with glasses and could look both left and right.
The real-life examples go on and on - treating MS at a distance of 5000 miles, removing a viral and fungal infection that doctors had not been able to heal for years, getting people off of Prozac, treating lower back pain and even removing past life curses.
The criterion then is does it work. And it works, but you have to understand the structure of the universe and study gravitational and hyperspace physics. These are subjects not taught to doctors and therefore they think it is BS.
You have to remember that there are a limited number of physical bodies available. So if a male body is available, and you are a female energy being, you may decide to take the opportunity and reincarnate. Thus this female is attracted to males which to us looking at the physical body is abnormal. From an energy point of view, it is natural. So I don't buy into the notion that a particular group should be excluded from medical care just because they appear to be different.
Can you regrow my amputated limb, John? That'd be great!!! I've never heard of any case where 'energy healers' healed anything visible, it's always something inside..... without exception.
well. we kind of need aids to keep people in check(and population). this way the dumb promiscuous people will continue being wiped off the face of the earth hence a brighter humanity in the future. i say don't cure it. its a curse and a gift. all you have to do to avoid it and be safe and smart.
@JediMindset
That's a pretty terrible thing to say. You've never made a single mistake in your entire life? I'm sure you have. Many of the victims are in 3rd world countries where education is horrendous on STD's.
Have you requested a STD medical exam before every time you slept with someone?
@JediMindset,
"this way the dumb promiscuous people will continue being wiped off the face of the earth hence a brighter humanity in the future."
Are you familiar with genetic variation? Do you know how that happens? From lots of people fornicating with lots of other people...
That's how "a brighter humanity in the future" can exist--because the greater the variation of a species, the greater the likelihood that one of the "random" genetic patterns from sexual recombination proves to be advantageous in a constantly changing world...
So... actually, the more unprotected sex we can all have with each other, the greater the likelihood that the species is stronger genetically.
@theredchaser & B.V.
wow. so your both saying that its ok to contract diseases?
@theredchaser
im all for protected sex. ive only done it unprotected twice. just to experiment how good it felt. just becuase one lives in poverty doesnt make it ok to be uneducated. ie Nelson Mandala, Ghandi
@ BV
thats a retarded logic you say its good because it helps promote gene variation? we can have great gene variation without promiscuous people. its called science and intelligent actions.
@jedimindset
hey i have a better idea how bout we get the gov to check everybody in the US for an STD and then round themup in concentration camps and gas them?
jedi some people make mistakes or like you wanna feel how good unprotected sex is just because they do dosn't mean that they should be left for dead if you had HIV or AIDS and were a teen (cause thats the age when you see people doing the dirty left and right) would you tell you date that? no chances are they wouldn't have sex no matter what unless they had condoms
keep in mind that im NOT saying its somtimes not their fault also im not saying its ok to get a disease im just saying somtimes they might make a mistake
johnstclair
Talk is cheap. How about you go down to your local news network. While they are filming you, inject yourself with HIV. Verify that you have become HIV positive at a medically accredited hospital. Then have your energy buddies heal you.
Because right now you are either a greedy a%#hole who refuses to share the cure for HIV with the medical community or a delusional madman who secretly knows he is crazy and is afraid to get help.
@JediMindset,
Wow, so you're saying you are too dumb to read? (and therefore have sex)
See how that works? When people misconstrue what you stated to insult you?
"we can have great gene variation without promiscuous people. its called science and intelligent actions"
BWAHAHAHAHA!
This reminds me of that Stargate episode about the nazi-like civilization warring with another civilization they called "the breeders" because they were fornicators. The Nazi-like civ. created all of their people in test-tubes.
Is that what you are proposing? Instead of using science to cure disease so we can all screw each other and enjoy life, we should use science to create test-tube babies in order to avoid one of the best experiences one can have on this planet?
LOL!!!
@macmansa
you are right. i kind of over reacted. i think it best to leave HIV alone. it helps with the over population in the world.
@B.V.
you took what i said out of proportion. all i was saying was that those that were told about HIV ahead of time but decided not care about it and got infected deserve what they got. they were given a heads up. now its normal to be horny(guarantees survival for humanity) just dont been an idiot and !%@$ anything that moves.
@JediMindset,
"those that were told about HIV ahead of time but decided not care about it and got infected deserve what they got."
Yeah! Just like when a woman in a sexy outfit gets raped, or a guy in a fancy suit gets mugged--they deserved it!
You are so right! Kids who have gotten it passed on to them from their mothers totally deserve it! Also, if your spouse has unprotected sex with someone and then infects you... YOU TOTALLY DESERVE IT! Should have asked for a blood test every time you were going to have sex with your wife/husband!
Good thing HIV is around to get rid of all those careless people!
*sarcasm off*
@B.V.
there you go again. i never mentioned the kids that got it from their parents. or the person that got raped. just the dumb ass that was educated and still decided to do wrong to others. all i'm saying is USE PROTECTION because its better to be safe than sorry!!!!!!!!
@JediMindset,
" just the dumb ass that was educated and still decided to do wrong to others"
???
What "wrong" did they do to others by engaging in consensual sex?
---
"all i'm saying is USE PROTECTION because its better to be safe than sorry"
No. That's not "all" you were saying. Here are some of your quotes:
"i think it best to leave HIV alone. it helps with the over population in the world."
"we can have great gene variation without promiscuous people."
"i say don't cure it. its a curse and a gift. all you have to do to avoid it and be safe and smart."
---
You are right when you say you never mentioned kids getting it from their parents, or person who got raped, or persons who's sexual partner did not realize they had it, etc.
You did not explicitly mention any of these people--you just implicitly asserted they were all dumb and deserving to die from AIDS because they weren't "smart" enough to avoid getting it.
It's too late to back-paddle now. But, next time you get the urge to make a comment, maybe spend a few minutes critically evaluating whether or not you could more accurately express yourself.
@B.V.
ok. i will admit that i shouldn't have said that "they all deserve it". my word choice was bad. you are right i should have processed exactly what i was feeling instead of writing something that was not well thought out and heartless. its just that i get mad when i hear of people that give others HIV on purpose. like this one guy that even had a list of the victims.that's all i was trying to imply. once again, my mistake.
I'm fairly certain it's illegal in the U.S. in most states to have sex with someone while knowing that you have an STD and not first informing your partner.
Someone with HIV who has unprotected sex with another person could be prosecuted under these laws.
God hates amputees....
US Patent 5676977 Please search for and read it! You wont be sorry...