Outlook for HIV In the future?

Hello,

Everyday we hear news broadcasts about the HIV/AIDS epidemic, however: I was wondering, Where did HIV come from? What are current medical treatments? What are possible future treatments? And are we close or will there ever even be a cure/vaccine for HIV.

Note that I am mainly talking about HIV here since AIDS in some rare cases can be acquired from certain types of cancers. I also ask that if you do answer you are familiar in this field.

re IL12: I have read about possible uses for Interleukin 12(if that is what you meant) for a anti cancer drug...how would this work as a treatment for HIV?
-Thanks

Some pretty significant strides have been made in the treatment of HIV, but it is felt by most researchers that a cure is not immediately forthcoming. Although combinations of drugs that target the HIV reverse transcriptase and protease enzymes have clearly revolutionized the treatment of HIV/AIDS, problems with these agents, such as viral escape mutants, persistence of viral reservoirs, poor patient compliance due to complicated regimens, and toxic side effects, have emphasized the need for development of new drugs with novel mechanisms of action, as well as an HIV vaccine.

Recently two new classes of drugs have been identified that interfere with the membrane fusion reaction required for HIV entry of target cells. Two such agents, T-20 (enfuvirtide) and T-1249, which have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), block the action of the fusogenic envelope glycoprotein gp41. Others target the HIV coreceptors CCR5 and CXCR4, and are now in clinical trials. Also under development are novel agents that target the HIV integrase and HIV regulatory gene products as well as immunomodulators such as IL-12 and IL-2.

In 1999, an international team of researchers reported that they had discovered the origins of HIV-1, the predominant strain of HIV in the developed world. A subspecies of chimpanzees native to west equatorial Africa had been identified as the original source of the virus. The researchers believe that HIV-1 was introduced into the human population when hunters became exposed to infected blood.

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Studies have shown that intermittent IL therapy can result in substantial and sustained increases in CD4 counts in HIV-infected patients, especially those with baseline CD4 counts above 200 cells/mm.

blah awesome