Cats cure HIV???

 Dr. Janet Yamamoto from the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine was quoted in a press release this week saying, “One major reason why there has been no successful HIV vaccine to date is that we do not know which parts of HIV to combine to produce the most effective vaccine." Her research team is trying to develop a vaccine that stimulates T cells from people infected with HIV to respond to the feline (FIV) form of the virus. They are working toward that goal by searching for sections of the FIV virus that can activate T cells to attack HIV without mutating.

Dr. Yamamoto's team obtained T-cells from people who were HIV-positive and exposed the cells to peptides needed by both HIV and FIV to survive and compared the reactions. Through these experiments, they discovered a specific region of the feline immunodeficiency virus that stimulated the T cells to kill the HIV. Interestingly, the same peptide region appears in many versions of AIDS-like viruses across species suggesting that the region is necessary for the survival of the virus.

Dr. Yamamoto said, "To date, a T-cell-based vaccine has not been used to prevent any viral diseases. So we are now employing an immune system approach that has not been typically utilized to make a vaccine.

For more information on FIV:

Sources:

University of Florida press release

Sanou MP,  Roff SR, Mennella A, Sleasman JW, Rathore MH, Yamamoto JK, Levy JA. Evolutionarily Conserved Epitopes on Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 (HIV-1) and Feline Immunodeficiency Virus Reverse Transcriptases Detected by HIV-1-Infected Subjects. Journal of Virology. 87(18): 10004-10015, 2013.

PetCare Television Network

More like this

NOH MAH GAWD!!! Mysterious Disease Leaves Patients With AIDS-like Symptons, But Not HIV Researchers have identified a mysterious new disease that has left scores of people in Asia and some in the United States with AIDS-like symptoms even though they are not infected with HIV. [bolding original…
It's time for this year's second installment of student guest posts for my class on infectious causes of chronic disease. Third one this round is by Jack Walsh.  The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection is one of the most significant global health challenges of this 21st century. Since the…
Technically, its the immune response to the HERVs that can control the HIVs, not the HERVs directly. :-D Ive written about the proposed connection between ERVs and HIV a couple times before-- Briefly, viruses do lots of things by accident.  Things just happen.  Sometimes viruses make us blind for…
A few months ago, I gave you a short primer on the immunology of vaccines. It's time now for another short, oversimplified primer, this time on the immunology of HIV. This was originally up on the old blog, but it will provide some necessary background for upcoming posts (I think). HIV denialists…

I am a straight man who is HIV positive. Cats do not cure HIV.

By Eddie Sansone … (not verified) on 24 Oct 2013 #permalink

You are correct, cats cannot cure HIV. But the research here suggests that the development of a vaccine based on FIV may help to activate T-cells to kill the HIV virus in humans.