HIV Digest	HIV Digest Archive

Certain protein patterns in blood cells may indicate that an HIV patient is at risk of dementia, according to a study released last month. Until now, doctors have relied on clinical examinations and brain-imaging techniques to diagnose brain disease, including HIV-associated dementia. The new study offers hope that a blood test may one day help spot early disease.

Researchers used a relatively new technique called proteomics protein fingerprinting to evaluate protein activity in infection-fighting white blood cells. The researchers looked at blood samples from 21 HIV-positive Hispanic women, some with and some without dementia. Their findings were compared to similar blood samples from 10 healthy Hispanic women without HIV.

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In all, the team evaluated 177 proteins. Of that group, 38 exhibited different activity levels in women with dementia and those without dementia, according to the report.

Another part of this research is equally important, researchers said. It shows that circulating blood cells of the monocyte-macrophage lineage-- the blood's scavenger cells-- are involved in the pathogenic process of disease. Unlike other types of [brain inflammation] where virus infects nerve cells-- like herpes, and rabies for example-- HIV-1 infects immune cells that enter into the brain and, once inside, cause considerable injury through indirect mechanisms. If researchers can gain a better understanding of how these indirect mechanisms work, better ways may be found to treat the disease process, he said.

HIV Super-infection

Growing evidence indicates that "super-infection" with more than one strain of HIV might be more common than previously thought, possibly complicating vaccine efforts, according to experts at the International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis and Treatment in Paris. Scientists reported three new cases of HIV-infected people who initially were doing well without drugs but became sick years later after contracting a second strain of HIV.

"Super-infection is sobering," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who was not involved in the studies. "That means that although you can mount an adequate response against one virus, the body still does not have the capability to protect you against new infection, which tells you that the development of a vaccine is going to be even more of a challenge," Fauci explained.

Editor's Note: from the Associated Press