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AIDS Researchers Hone in on Clue

Aired September 26, 2002 - 14:32   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: They're not calling it a cure, but AIDS researchers believe they are close to solving the mystery of why some people infected with HIV never develop AIDS. It's a 20-year-old question that could help crack the code of how certain bodies fight that infection.
CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM MORGAN, HIV SUFFERER: One, two, three, four, five, six that are just sort of HIV pills,

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Like many people with HIV, Tom Morgan has to take 25 pills every day just to keep the virus from overtaking his immune system and causing AIDS.

MORGAN: I often vomit. I very often get nauseous. I get sleepy. And I very often really very sort of fatigued.

GUPTA: But Morgan has heard about others who don't take any HIV medicine and never get sick from the disease. Exerts call them long- term nonprogressors. They make up only 1 percent to 2 percent of people with HIV. There is something about this small group of people that protects them from getting sick from the AIDS virus, and researchers have been racing for nearly 20 years to figure out what it is.

Now scientists may have cracked the code.

DR. DAVID HO, AIDS RESEARCHER: So what we are reading here is really kind of peaks.

GUPTA: Surprisingly simple, this machine analyzes the blood samples of several people at once, and then differences show up as peaks on this computer. Researchers at the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, in New York, found that nonprogressors, those who never got AIDS, are the ones with the peaks. The peaks represent three proteins, which are the key to keeping the virus in check.

But the real question: What does this science mean for people infected with HIV?

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: It is really too preliminary to even speculate that this will even have any impact on treatment. GUPTA: Dr. David Ho and his team agree it is early, but believe if they can understand the workings of these proteins, they can create new drugs for HIV.

HO: The whole game plan now is to figure out whether we could take this discovery and work on it and translate it into something that would be practically useful for patients.

GUPTA: But first, the science must be verified, and those efforts are already under way. It's only then researchers can determine if these tiny proteins can lead to a better treatment for people like Morgan.

MORGAN: We have been this way so many times before that I want to say that I am cautiously optimistic. And I hope that this means something really significant for us. And there is a chance that it might be.

GUPTA: Everyone agrees it is not the cure, but it may be a significant step toward one.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us live now from New York.

So Sanjay, why has it been so hard to crack the code and find a cure?

GUPTA: Well, you know these folks, the long-term nonprogressors, as they are being called, basically in order to crack this code, so to speak, they have had to compare blood, the specific parts of blood from these 1 to 2 percents of people and compare that now to 98 to 99 percent of the other people who have full-blown HIV get -- who get sick, who have to take medications and things like that. And there is a lot of different moving parts when you're actually comparing those two populations. To actually pinpoint it down to just three proteins was pretty large challenge -- took many years, as you heard.

PHILLIPS: All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you.

GUPTA: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired September 26, 2002 - 14:32   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: They're not calling it a cure, but AIDS researchers believe they are close to solving the mystery of why some people infected with HIV never develop AIDS. It's a 20-year-old question that could help crack the code of how certain bodies fight that infection.
CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM MORGAN, HIV SUFFERER: One, two, three, four, five, six that are just sort of HIV pills,

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Like many people with HIV, Tom Morgan has to take 25 pills every day just to keep the virus from overtaking his immune system and causing AIDS.

MORGAN: I often vomit. I very often get nauseous. I get sleepy. And I very often really very sort of fatigued.

GUPTA: But Morgan has heard about others who don't take any HIV medicine and never get sick from the disease. Exerts call them long- term nonprogressors. They make up only 1 percent to 2 percent of people with HIV. There is something about this small group of people that protects them from getting sick from the AIDS virus, and researchers have been racing for nearly 20 years to figure out what it is.

Now scientists may have cracked the code.

DR. DAVID HO, AIDS RESEARCHER: So what we are reading here is really kind of peaks.

GUPTA: Surprisingly simple, this machine analyzes the blood samples of several people at once, and then differences show up as peaks on this computer. Researchers at the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, in New York, found that nonprogressors, those who never got AIDS, are the ones with the peaks. The peaks represent three proteins, which are the key to keeping the virus in check.

But the real question: What does this science mean for people infected with HIV?

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: It is really too preliminary to even speculate that this will even have any impact on treatment. GUPTA: Dr. David Ho and his team agree it is early, but believe if they can understand the workings of these proteins, they can create new drugs for HIV.

HO: The whole game plan now is to figure out whether we could take this discovery and work on it and translate it into something that would be practically useful for patients.

GUPTA: But first, the science must be verified, and those efforts are already under way. It's only then researchers can determine if these tiny proteins can lead to a better treatment for people like Morgan.

MORGAN: We have been this way so many times before that I want to say that I am cautiously optimistic. And I hope that this means something really significant for us. And there is a chance that it might be.

GUPTA: Everyone agrees it is not the cure, but it may be a significant step toward one.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us live now from New York.

So Sanjay, why has it been so hard to crack the code and find a cure?

GUPTA: Well, you know these folks, the long-term nonprogressors, as they are being called, basically in order to crack this code, so to speak, they have had to compare blood, the specific parts of blood from these 1 to 2 percents of people and compare that now to 98 to 99 percent of the other people who have full-blown HIV get -- who get sick, who have to take medications and things like that. And there is a lot of different moving parts when you're actually comparing those two populations. To actually pinpoint it down to just three proteins was pretty large challenge -- took many years, as you heard.

PHILLIPS: All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you.

GUPTA: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com