dksuddeth

I've had this theory for awhile but I need people who have medical knowledge, scientific knowledge, and bio-engineering knowledge in order to see what people think....so if you are any of these people or students of these particular fields then have a look and let me know what you think.

Problem - AIDS and why we don't have a cure yet.
currently, we have several different drugs that people can take to fight off the various effects of AIDS and prolong their life but no successful breakthroughs on possible cures.

So, what if we approached this with the same type of mindset that one would use to defeat a specific type of pest that is not indigenous to an area? Using a natural enemy to defeat the initial issue?

My theory is this.....

using specified genetic properties of the lupus antibodies engineered to attack the immune system cells that are infected with the HIV virus to kill those cells before the virus can replicate. I theorize that by doing this it will prevent the HIV virus from spreading which will eventually force the virus to die out as its killed off before it can replicate.

Now, if there are some bright and intelligent people whose interests lie in the fields I've stated maybe they could help theorize and further this idea or shoot it down with the reasons why.

__________________
"no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything. You cannot conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him."

xepherys

Well, one thing that they are looking into is the removal of a specific gene(?) that HIV/AIDS binds to. It's the same place that many diseases bind to, and some people naturally do not have it (and are therefore immune, basically, to those illnesses).

http://www.natap.org/2005/ICAAC/icaac_9.htm
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/factsheets/howhiv.htm

So some organizations are looking at suppressing/disrupting the CCR5 gene which would prevent the travel of HIV through the body. However, I am not one of the above mentioned specialists... so additional input should be had on this topic.

soul_wisdom

I could give you an answer that I think is the reason for no cure, whether it is true, well I'll leave that up to public opinion. It may sound conspiracy/big corporation hater based but, think about it. What's in it for them to make a cure. I'm know there is a much larger profit in only selling those drugs that might prolong life, instead of actually protecting and curing it. There's a reason that greed is a sin.

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alansmithee

They might not have a cure for AIDS, but they do have a vaccine=abstinence.

I see no reason to waste money developing a cure for AIDS (which can fairly easily be prevented with condoms or abstinence) when there's things like cancer that can't be as reasonably controlled. If you live in any industrialized nation and catch AIDS, you are a fool, there's no way around it.

rhaevyn

What about the babies who are born with HIV, passed down from their mothers, or people who contract it from contaminated blood transfusions and such, or people who are raped by someone with the virus? Are they fools for catching it?

A lot of the forms of cancer can be prevented, as well. Should we not "waste money" trying to develop cures for those forms?

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~Alex~

You've come far, and though you're far from the end, you don't mind where you are, 'cause you know where you've been.

Willravel

The cure for cancer is not ever being born. Maybe we should all give that a shot, too.

Martian

Wouldn't work. AIDS isn't HIV, it's only caused by HIV. AIDS happens when to many white blood cells become infected; the immune system simply becomes too weak to fight off even the most trivial of illnesses. Introducing another virus wouldn't stop that, because the HIV would have to spread to the white blood cells before it could be killed and that would end up with the same result. Whether the white blood cell dies due to HIV or some other virus isn't really relevant.

And that doesn't even take account the fact that what you're suggesting requires a level of genetic manipulation far beyond what we're capable of.

The only effectice way to fight AIDS is to figure out a way to destroy the HIV virus before it infects a cell. This is much more complicated, due to it being a retrovirus.

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I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept
I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept
I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head
I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said

- Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame

lindalove

Sounds like a valid idea, except doctors would first have to have more than just a basic understanding of Lupus to even think about this. My mother has Lupus and all she's told is that they can treat the symptoms. You'd also have to have a way of stopping the Lupus cells afterwards, wouldn't that essentially mean you'd have to be able to control/stop Lupus as well?