mashrooms for hiv

Cure For AIDS Found In Folkloric Siberian Mushroom, Russian Institute Claims

By Chris Weller | Sep 19, 2013 03:24 PM EDT

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(natureluvr01, CC BY 2.0)  Russian scientists claim the folk remedy from Chaga mushrooms has the potential to cure HIV/AIDS, despite no clinical trials to assess its safety or efficacy.

Scientists from the Vector Institute near Novosibirsk, in Russia, claim to have found the potential cure for HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome) in a folk remedy mushroom called Chaga.
The strain of fungi is well-known around Siberia, and for centuries has been suspected by many a babushka as an effective cure for antiviral activity. Now, researchers are claiming the anecdotal claims have scientific basis, as the Chaga mushroom (Inonotus obliquus), which grows on the trunks of birch trees, contains high concentrations of betulinic acid. The acid has antiretroviral, anti-inflammatory, and recently discovered anticancer agents that Vector scientists are calling a “promising line of development.”
“Strains of these mushrooms demonstrated low toxicity and a strong antiviral effect,” the Siberian Times quoted a Vector statement as saying, noting the mushroom had particularly potent effects on smallpox, influenza, and HIV.
“We conducted research and for the first time we selected 82 strains of 33 types of fungi growing in South West Siberia,” a spokesperson for Vector said. “Chaga fungi strains – which are so well known around Siberia – showed the widest spectrum of antiviral activity.”
Russian folklore often speaks of Chaga in high regard, as it is popular as a dietary supplement and as a cultural icon, appearing as a cancer cure in Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s 1968 novel Cancer Ward. In the West, the mushroom has less scientific backing; New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center states on its site, “No clinical trials have been conducted to assess Chaga’s safety and efficacy for disease prevention or for the treatment of cancer.”
Follow Us ollow Us Meanwhile, the researchers at Vector maintain that the mushroom’s power as an anti-HIV and anti-AIDS medicine comes from its “anti-tumor” agents and “immune stimulating benefits.”
“Although relatively unheard of in mainstream media, the Chaga mushroom has been used in folk medicine for generations,” a Vector spokesperson told the Siberian Times. “Research has shown Chaga to be extremely effective in protecting cellular DNA from damaging free radicals” — molecular compounds that destroy cell membranes.
In Soviet times, the Vector research institute served as a biological weapons facility and stored deadly viruses, including those causing smallpox, the Wall Street Journal Emerging Europe blog reports.
Roughly 34.2 million people around the world suffer from HIV/AIDS. Since the epidemic began, nearly 30 million people with the disease have died worldwide, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Formally, HIV/AIDS is considered a global pandemic, as the disease has spread across multiple continents and still increases in prevalence in underdeveloped parts of the worl

cancer drug for hiv

March 9, 2012

Pathway to a Cure: Cancer Drug Helps Purge HIV From Resting Cells

by Tim Horn

Researchers have shown for the first time that it is possible to target and interrupt the mechanism by which HIV remains hidden and unreachable by antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, according to highly anticipated study results presented Thursday, March 8, at the 19th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Seattle. Though no people living with HIV participating in the study saw their virus eradicated as result of the experiment, the findings paint an optimistic picture for scientists in pursuit of a cure for HIV.

After protease inhibitors were approved in the mid-1990s, researchers hoped that the advent of combination ARV therapy would be potent enough to burn out HIV infection over time. It soon became apparent, however, that no matter how strong the drugs are and how long a person’s virus level remains undetectable, HIV can still hide out inside dormant cells and bring the infection flaring back to life once ARV meds are stopped.
Therapies initially studied to reawaken these cells succeeded in forcing them to purge their HIV payload, but the therapies caused too much immune system inflammation. In other words, while they “turned on” the dormant cells, they also created so many susceptible uninfected CD4 cells that the ARV drugs couldn’t protect them.
What was needed, scientists argued, was a drug that could force out the HIV hiding within these cells without activating immune system cells at the same time. One such approach that has gained a lot of attention in recent years is the inhibition of histone deacetylase (HDAC), an enzyme believed to play a key role in maintaining HIV inside long-lived resting cells.

David Margolis, MD, at his lab at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill. ©Charles L Harris for UNC School of Medicine

An early experiment with an HDAC inhibitor called Depakote (valproic acid), conducted by David Margolis, MD, of the University of North Carolina and Chapel Hill and his colleagues, proved promising. But another round of studies, reported a few years later in 2005, failed to show that valproic acid significantly affected the recalcitrant reservoirs of dormant HIV-infected cells.
Margolis and his team then set their eyes on another HDAC inhibitor, Zolinza (vorinostat), a cancer chemotherapeutic that in 2009 was found to awaken dormant HIV-infected cells, both in laboratory cell cultures and in blood taken from people on ARV therapy. A year later, Margolis’s group announced their plans for a clinical trial involving people living with HIV.
The clinical trial enrolled six HIV-positive men averaging 45 years old. All study volunteers had been on therapy for an average of four years, had undetectable viral loads and had stable CD4 cell counts in excess of 500.
The study’s first step was to harvest resting CD4 cells from the patients, which was needed to test HIV-RNA levels—a marker of viral activity—inside the cells. From there, the cells were exposed to Zolinza, which confirmed that the HDAC inhibitor had the ability to increase HIV-RNA levels.
The second step was to explore whether or not the Zolinza dose selected for the study—400 milligrams (mg)—had an effect on histone acetylation, the cellular process needed to turn on HIV expression in the dormant cells. Margolis reported that there was a more than twofold increase in this activity within eight hours of receiving a single dose of Zolinza.
The final step was to check Zolinza’s ability to increase HIV-RNA levels in the pools of resting CD4 cells obtained after vorinostat, compared with pre-treatment measurements. Margolis reported that there was an average 4.8 increase in all six patients, which ranged from a 1.5-fold increase in one patient to a 10-fold increase in another.
The researchers also failed to find a statistically significant increase in blood-based HIV-RNA levels, suggesting that while Zolinza succeeded at turning on HIV expression in the cells, it did not have an unfavorable effect of increasing viral load.
Margolis also noted that any adverse effects reported during the study were mild and that none appeared to be related to Zolinza treatment.
“This study provides first proof of concept, demonstrating disruption of latency, a significant step toward eradication,” Margolis concluded. “The effort to fully understand the potential of such approaches to influence both the natural history and clinical management of HIV infection deserves urgent and accelerated investigation.”

Search: Zolinza, vorinostat, HDAC, SAHA, Margolis, CROI, cure, eradication, latency, dormant, Seattle

OHSU AIDS vaccine candidate appears to completely clear virus from the body

09/11/13  Portland, Ore.

An HIV/AIDS vaccine candidate developed by researchers at Oregon Health & Science University appears to have the ability to completely clear an AIDS-causing virus from the body. The promising vaccine candidate is being developed at OHSU's Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute. It is being tested through the use of a non-human primate form of HIV, called simian immunodeficiency virus, or SIV, which causes AIDS in monkeys. Following further development, it is hoped an HIV-form of the vaccine candidate can soon be tested in humans. These research results were published online today by the journal Nature. The results will also appear in a future print version of the publication.
"To date, HIV infection has only been cured in a very small number of highly-publicized but unusual clinical cases in which HIV-infected individuals were treated with anti-viral medicines very early after the onset of infection or received a stem cell transplant to combat cancer,” said Louis Picker, M.D., associate director of the OHSU Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute. “This latest research suggests that certain immune responses elicited by a new vaccine may also have the ability to completely remove HIV from the body.”
High-resolution sounds bites with Louis Picker, M.D. (Vimeo)
The Picker lab's approach involves the use of cytomegalovirus, or CMV, a common virus already carried by a large percentage of the population. In short, the researchers discovered that pairing CMV with SIV had a unique effect. They found that a modified version of CMV engineered to express SIV proteins generates and indefinitely maintains so-called "effector memory" T-cells that are capable of searching out and destroying SIV-infected cells.
T-cells are a key component of the body's immune system, which fights off disease, but T-cells elicited by conventional vaccines of SIV itself are not able to eliminate the virus. The SIV-specific T-cells elicited by the modified CMV were different. About 50 percent of monkeys given highly pathogenic SIV after being vaccinated with this vaccine became infected with SIV but over time eliminated all trace of SIV from the body. In effect, the hunters of the body were provided with a much better targeting system and better weapons to help them find and destroy an elusive enemy.
“Through this method we were able to teach the monkey's body to better 'prepare its defenses' to combat the disease," explained Picker. “Our vaccine mobilized a T-cell response that was able to overtake the SIV invaders in 50 percent of the cases treated. Moreover, in those cases with a positive response, our testing suggests SIV was banished from the host. We are hopeful that pairing our modified CMV vector with HIV will lead to a similar result in humans.”
The Picker lab is now investigating the possible reasons why only a subset of the animals treated had a positive response in hopes that the effectiveness of the vaccine candidate can be further boosted.
This research was funded by several grants from the National Institutes of Health, funding from the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and a CAVD grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
In the interest of ensuring the integrity of our research and as part of our commitment to public transparency, OHSU actively regulates, tracks and manages relationships that our researchers may hold with entities outside of OHSU. In regards to this research project, OHSU has licensed a CMV technology, of which Picker is an inventor, to the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. In addition, CMV vector technology is being commercialized by TomegaVax, Inc., a company in which both OHSU and Picker have a significant financial interest.
More information on OHSU's conflict of interest policies and management of these business relationships.

About OHSU

Oregon Health & Science University is a nationally prominent research university and Oregon’s only public academic health center. It serves patients throughout the region with a Level 1 trauma center and nationally recognized Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. OHSU operates dental, medical, nursing and pharmacy schools that rank high both in research funding and in meeting the university’s social mission. OHSU’s Knight Cancer Institute helped pioneer personalized medicine through a discovery that identified how to shut down cells that enable cancer to grow without harming healthy ones. OHSU Brain Institute scientists are nationally recognized for discoveries that have led to a better understanding of Alzheimer’s disease and new treatments for Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis and stroke. OHSU’s Casey Eye Institute is a global leader in ophthalmic imaging, and in clinical trials related to eye disease.

cure for hiv

Pathway to a Cure: Cancer Drug Helps Purge HIV From Resting Cells

by Tim Horn

Researchers have shown for the first time that it is possible to target and interrupt the mechanism by which HIV remains hidden and unreachable by antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, according to highly anticipated study results presented Thursday, March 8, at the 19th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Seattle. Though no people living with HIV participating in the study saw their virus eradicated as result of the experiment, the findings paint an optimistic picture for scientists in pursuit of a cure for HIV.

After protease inhibitors were approved in the mid-1990s, researchers hoped that the advent of combination ARV therapy would be potent enough to burn out HIV infection over time. It soon became apparent, however, that no matter how strong the drugs are and how long a person’s virus level remains undetectable, HIV can still hide out inside dormant cells and bring the infection flaring back to life once ARV meds are stopped.
Therapies initially studied to reawaken these cells succeeded in forcing them to purge their HIV payload, but the therapies caused too much immune system inflammation. In other words, while they “turned on” the dormant cells, they also created so many susceptible uninfected CD4 cells that the ARV drugs couldn’t protect them.
What was needed, scientists argued, was a drug that could force out the HIV hiding within these cells without activating immune system cells at the same time. One such approach that has gained a lot of attention in recent years is the inhibition of histone deacetylase (HDAC), an enzyme believed to play a key role in maintaining HIV inside long-lived resting cells.

David Margolis, MD, at his lab at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill. ©Charles L Harris for UNC School of Medicine

An early experiment with an HDAC inhibitor called Depakote (valproic acid), conducted by David Margolis, MD, of the University of North Carolina and Chapel Hill and his colleagues, proved promising. But another round of studies, reported a few years later in 2005, failed to show that valproic acid significantly affected the recalcitrant reservoirs of dormant HIV-infected cells.
Margolis and his team then set their eyes on another HDAC inhibitor, Zolinza (vorinostat), a cancer chemotherapeutic that in 2009 was found to awaken dormant HIV-infected cells, both in laboratory cell cultures and in blood taken from people on ARV therapy. A year later, Margolis’s group announced their plans for a clinical trial involving people living with HIV.
The clinical trial enrolled six HIV-positive men averaging 45 years old. All study volunteers had been on therapy for an average of four years, had undetectable viral loads and had stable CD4 cell counts in excess of 500.
The study’s first step was to harvest resting CD4 cells from the patients, which was needed to test HIV-RNA levels—a marker of viral activity—inside the cells. From there, the cells were exposed to Zolinza, which confirmed that the HDAC inhibitor had the ability to increase HIV-RNA levels.
The second step was to explore whether or not the Zolinza dose selected for the study—400 milligrams (mg)—had an effect on histone acetylation, the cellular process needed to turn on HIV expression in the dormant cells. Margolis reported that there was a more than twofold increase in this activity within eight hours of receiving a single dose of Zolinza.
The final step was to check Zolinza’s ability to increase HIV-RNA levels in the pools of resting CD4 cells obtained after vorinostat, compared with pre-treatment measurements. Margolis reported that there was an average 4.8 increase in all six patients, which ranged from a 1.5-fold increase in one patient to a 10-fold increase in another.
The researchers also failed to find a statistically significant increase in blood-based HIV-RNA levels, suggesting that while Zolinza succeeded at turning on HIV expression in the cells, it did not have an unfavorable effect of increasing viral load.
Margolis also noted that any adverse effects reported during the study were mild and that none appeared to be related to Zolinza treatment.
“This study provides first proof of concept, demonstrating disruption of latency, a significant step toward eradication,” Margolis concluded. “The effort to fully understand the potential of such approaches to influence both the natural history and clinical management of HIV infection deserves urgent and accelerated investigation

hiv cure found

A breakthrough in the search for a cure for HIV will come ''within months'', researchers believe.
Danish scientists are expecting results showing that it will be possible to find a cure that is both affordable and can be provided to a large number of people.
They are running clinical trials to test a ''novel strategy'' in which the HIV virus, which causes AIDS, is stripped from human DNA and destroyed by the immune system.
It has already been found to work in laboratory tests and the scientists are now running human trials.

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The technique involves releasing the HIV virus from ''reservoirs'' it forms in DNA cells, bringing it to the surface of the cells. Once it comes to the surface, the body's immune system can kill the virus through being boosted by a ''vaccine''.
In vitro studies - those that use human cells in a laboratory - of the new technique proved so successful that in January the Danish Research Council awarded the team 12 million kroner ($2 million) to pursue clinical trials with human subjects.
Ole Sogaard, a senior researcher at the Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark who is leading the study, said: ''I am almost certain we will be successful in releasing the reservoirs of HIV.
''The challenge will be getting the immune system to recognise the virus and destroy it. This depends on the strength and sensitivity of individual immune systems.''
Fifteen patients are taking part in the trials, and if they are found to have been cured of HIV, the process will be tested on a wider scale.
The technique uses drugs called HDAC inhibitors, more commonly employed in treating cancer.
It is also being researched in Britain, but studies have not yet moved on to the clinical trial stage.
Telegraph, London

may be true

Malawi woman claims to have herbal concoction for HIV/AIDS cure

12 February 2012 Nation

A new Malawian herb concoction known as Garani MW 1 Herb might help to cure HIV/AIDS. Unlike other concoctions, Garani is backed by data in the field.
Mchape, a traditional concoction in Malawi stormed the HIV cure scene with pomp, but disappeared silently in disgrace.
Many other initially promising but ultimately doomed pretenders to the cure for HIV have come and gone, but the elusive conqueror of the devastating virus remains well beyond the horizon.
Or is this about to change now? Could a Lilongwe-based Malawina woman Gloria Jeremiah and her Garani MW 1 Herb be the real deal the world has been waiting for to deliver the knockout blow against a virus that has decimated populations across the globe?
No doubt, says Jeremiah.
Jeremiah says there is scientific evidence that her herb can make HIV disappear and that some people are free of the virus because of the drug.
Since 2009, Jeremiah claims has been engaging Malawi Government to certify the drug as an HIV cure, but all in vain.
Since the drug was discovered in 2007, Jeremiah has gone about her business silently, hoping that science would do its part to give it the final stamp of authority as the world’s first cure of HIV.
"Preliminary analysis was done at Chancellor College’s Chemistry Department under Professor Saka with the consent of the Office of the President and Cabinet, Nutrition, HIV and Aids. The herb was also given to the Malawi Pharmacy, Medicines and Poisons Board for analysis. Preliminary results found three major moieties (parts or functional groups of a molecule) in the powder which need to be further identified," said Jeremiah.
She said things became tricky when government demanded that she reveal the name of the tree from which she gets the powder so that it is fully analysed before it can be certified and patented.
Malawi’s Secretary for Nutrition, HIV and Aids Dr Mary Shawa confirmed that her office took the medicine to the Malawi Pharmacy, Medicines and Poisons Board, but added that it is necessary for Jeremiah to identify the tree before it can be certified.
"When such discoveries are made, they have to go through several stages; we need to name it as a country; the next stage is to subject it to testing and processes before we can send it to the World Health Organisation which is the only body that can certify it," said Shawa.
She said the drug is one of the priorities on her desk and that she called Jeremiah to discuss the issue.
of the tree, Jeremiah said: "Once the name of the tree is revealed, we could lose our intellectual rights. That’s why we insist on patenting first before anything like revealing the tree can happen." Jeremiah has since engaged a Malawian and foreign doctor to help her with the patenting process.
Away from the legal hustles, the drug continues to sell in silence. Jeremiah said many people who get "cured" are hesitant to come out into the open for fear of discrimination. News of the herb spreads through word of mouth.
On the efficacy of the drug, Shawa said: "I have seen a few people who used the herb and their problems and symptoms disappeared. Mind you, I am not saying cured, it disappeared and hid the HIV."
She said it is difficult to say for certain that one is cured of HIV because even prolonged intake of ARVs can hide the virus. She warned those using the herb against stopping taking ARVs.
Shawa said she appreciates that the drug could provide hope to people infected by the virus and that this is the reason the issue is a priority for her department.
"We want the herb, but the owner is uncomfortable with property rights. That’s where we stalemated," she said.
Garani MW 1 Herb was discovered by a man from Lilongwe who was shown the herb in a dream in 2007. He was HIV-positive and was on ARVs from 2005 to 2007.
He got ‘cured’ after taking the medicine. The man has been tested several times for HIV and is still HIV-negative.
After being rebuffed by some authorities, he contacted Jeremiah who has pioneered the medicine since. The man wants to remain out of the limelight, but if the herb is patented, he will have all rights over the drug.
Jeremiah challenges anybody to bring an HIV-positive person for treatment.
She says the herb does not clash with other medicines and that the only side effect associated with the herb is an increase in the level of appetite.
"I delayed coming open about the herb because I wanted to have tangible scientific evidence and I was afraid that it could affect my studies, but since I am finishing my Master’s degree this year, I feel this is the time," said Jeremiah, an alumna of The Polytechnic where she studied environmental health.
A retired senior government official, who did not want to be identified, revealed that he took the drug three years ago and has been HIV-free since.
"It’s contingent but it works. I am a living proof. I quit taking my ARVs over two years ago. I think if you believe in this medicine, it works...but don’t mention my name," he said.
The full course of the medicine is three teaspoons of the powder taken over a period of three days, repeated after two weeks. The herb is supposed to be applied in porridge without sugar or salt.
It is sold at K4 000 per pack and this is all it takes to make the HIV disappear within or even before 18 months.
A foreign doctor who is in the country to help with the patenting process said from the trials she conducted, there is hope that it could be a cure for HIV, but said a lot needs to be done before the drug can be certified as a cure.
The doctor gave the medicine to 18 HIV-positive people and from the preliminary results released last week, 10 people tested HIV-negative whereas others are still under observation and treatment.
"There is scientific evidence that the viral load is reduced drastically, especially during the first three months after taking the herb. A number of patients that took the herb last year have viral loads below 50 copies per millilitre of blood. This is great because such people are leading a normal life and doing their usual businesses," she said.
She said to determine if the person is free of HIV, there is need to use a DNA-screening method. The doctor is pessimistic that WHO would accept her results because "so far, regarding the ‘HIV end game’ the results are inconclusive."
"I am mindful, however, that many lives could be saved right now by this herb with the current scientific data we have."

On why she is insisting on patenting the drug before revealing the name

new hiv vaccine

Canadian researchers working to develop the world's first HIV vaccine announced on Tuesday that they have cleared a major hurdle. Initial results from a Phase I trial conducted by scientists at Western University has shown no adverse effects while significantly boosting immunity. The vaccine, which is based on a genetically modified, dead virus, can now progress to the next stage of testing. If all continues to go well, the vaccine could be commercially available in five years.

Since it first made its appearance in the early 1980s, HIV/AIDS has killed more than 28 million people worldwide, with more than 34 million people currently living with the virus infection. While there have been numerous attempts over the years to develop vaccines, nothing has worked to date. But if the early indications of this new vaccine is of any indication, that could soon change.

The vaccine, called SAV001-H, is being developed by Dr. Chil-Yong Kang and his team at Western's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, with the support of Sumagen Canada. The now completed first-phase trial was a randomized, observer-blinded, placebo-controlled study involving infected men and women aged 18 to 50.

Results from the trials showed that patients experienced no adverse effects — no local reactions from the injections, or any signs, symptoms, or reactions to potential toxicities. Given that the early results have shown safety and tolerability in humans, Sumagen and the Western researchers are now ready to embark upon the next phase of clinical trials to study the vaccine's immunity and effectiveness.

"We have proven that there is no safety concern of SAV001-H in human administration and we are now prepared to take the next steps towards Phase II and Phase III clinical trials," said Dr. Dong Joon Kim through the official release. "We are delighted to be one step closer to the first commercialized HIV vaccine."

Interestingly, the vaccine is unique in that it uses a killed whole HIV-a — much like the killed whole virus vaccines that are used to treat polio, influenza, rabies and hepatitis A. A killed vaccine is a vaccine made from a previously virulent or infectious agent that has been inactivated or killed in some way, typically by radiation, heat, or chemicals. In this case, the HIV-1 was genetically engineered so that it is non-pathogenic and can be produced in large quantities.

The phase 2 trial, which will begin next year, will see the vaccine tested on 600 HIV-negative volunteers at high risk for infection. This will allow the researchers to measure immune response. For phase 3, it's hoped that 6,000 HIV-negative volunteers can be recruited from different countries who are also at high risk for infection.

In addition, Sumagen will be looking to collaborate with multi-national biopharmaceutical companies for globalizing clinical trials and commercialization. Sumagen Co. Ltd. is a Korean-based pharmaceutical venture company that was established to fund the development of the HIV vaccine.

Source: Western University.

Image: Alexander Raths/Shutterstock.com.

scientists foun vaccine to hiv

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