AIDS Weekly Plus

compounds that would block the action of telomerase, a controlling enzyme essential for cancer cell
A viability.
D The Geron inventors are Bryant Villeponteau, Junli Feng, Walter Funk, and William H. Andrews.
S The inventors received a patent in December 1996 on their invention, which is called "Mammalian
Telomerase."
w Telomerase is found in all cancer cells. It is an enzyme that replaces DNA lost from the tips, or
E "telomeres," of chromosomes whenever cells divide. The inventors have created new compounds that can
E stop telomerase from "rewinding" the biological clock of cancer cells, thus causing the cancer cells to die.
K Their invention is thought to represent a major milestone in the efforts to treat cancer.
L
y
AIDS Therapies(Remune)
L NEW ANTIVIRAL ACTIVITY REPORTED
U
s The Immune Response Corp., Carlsbad, California, announced the company's data indicating
Remune's effect on chemokine inducement.
A The paper, "Effect of immunization with an inactivated gpl20 depleted HIV-1 immunogen (Remune)
P on beta chemokine and cytokine production in subjects with HIV-1 infection" (JAIDS, April 1, 1997), is
R the first published report of an immune-based therapy for HIV infection increasing the production of
I chemokines and other potent antiviral factors.
L It describes an open-label trial of 15 subjects, and suggests that immune cells of individuals
2 immunized with Remune significantly increased their capacity to produce chemokines in response to HIV.
8 Additionally, the T cells of these subjects increased their capacity to proliferate against HIV. These
subjects also increased their capacity to produce other cytokines such as gamma interferon after
1 immunization with Remune. The company is measuring these antiviral factors in ongoing Phase II and
9 Phase III clinical trials of Remune.
9 Independent scientists have identified beta chemokines as the major HIV suppressive factors produced
7 by CD8 lymphocytes. This discovery of the role of the chemokines produced by the immune system
further supports the importance of protective HIV specific responses.
Additional scientific groups have confirmed these observations and also determined that the
chemokine receptor is a co-receptor for HIV. A therapeutic treatment which increases the levels of
chemokines may protect the cells of the immune system from infection by HIV.
A quote by Dr. Robert Gallo, the co-discoverer of HIV, states that, "chemokines and CTL's are going
to be the answer for vaccines," appeared in the February 28, 1997, edition of Science.
AIDS Vaccines
ATTENUATED LIVE SIV VACCINE PROTECTIVE DESPITE LACK OF REPLICATION
Despite impaired or undetectable replication in immunized animals, a live attenuated simian
immunodeficiency virus (SIV) vaccine offered significant protection against challenge with wild-type SIV.
Whether a live HIV vaccine could ever be considered safe enough for human use is one of the most
controversial topics in AIDS vaccine development. The highly attenuated SI~mac239delta3 vaccine
safely protects adult macaques against pathogenic SI~mac239 challenge, but oral doses can cause AIDS in
neonatal monkeys.
To explore the effects of an attenuated live SIV vaccine in its natural host - the first time this has been
done - a German research team used SIY from African green monkeys (SIVagm) to create a nef-genedeleted mutant (SIVagm3deltanef).
"This study demonstrates that a strong vaccine effect or protection in the SIVagm/African green
monkey system is possible using a live attenuated vaccine in the absence of productive infection and

corresponding humoral response," wrote Brigitte Beer and colleagues of the Paul Ehrlich Institute, Langen,
Germany.