C-C Chemokine Receptor 5 and HIV: Therapeutic Potentials of the Delta 32 Base Pair Deletion
Presentation Type
Oral and/or Visual Presentation
Presenter Major(s)
Biomedical Sciences, Spanish
Mentor Information
Steven Hecht, hechts@gvsu.edu
Department
Biomedical Sciences
Location
Kirkhof Center 2263
Start Date
13-4-2011 1:00 PM
End Date
13-4-2011 1:30 PM
Keywords
Health, Illness, and Healing
Abstract
The Human Immunodeficiency Virus, a retrovirus discovered in 1981, has reached pandemic status worldwide. Without an existing cure or vaccine, a majority of the world's population remains at risk for infection and more than 35 million people to date have died from AIDS. Resistance to the virus, however, has been discovered in 10% of the world's population in the form of an allelic base pair deletion located on C-C chemokine receptor 5. Those homozygous for the base pair deletion are resistant to HIV while heterozygotes have displayed delayed onset of HIV infection. The CCR5 mutation and observed resistance to HIV in those bearing the base pair deletion represent exciting possibilities for the prevention and treatment of the virus. A new class of pharmaceuticals termed CCR5 antagonists, as well as CCR5-?32 stem cell transplantation, hold therapeutic promise not just for HIV but also other chemokine mediated diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune myocarditis, and cancer.
C-C Chemokine Receptor 5 and HIV: Therapeutic Potentials of the Delta 32 Base Pair Deletion
Kirkhof Center 2263
The Human Immunodeficiency Virus, a retrovirus discovered in 1981, has reached pandemic status worldwide. Without an existing cure or vaccine, a majority of the world's population remains at risk for infection and more than 35 million people to date have died from AIDS. Resistance to the virus, however, has been discovered in 10% of the world's population in the form of an allelic base pair deletion located on C-C chemokine receptor 5. Those homozygous for the base pair deletion are resistant to HIV while heterozygotes have displayed delayed onset of HIV infection. The CCR5 mutation and observed resistance to HIV in those bearing the base pair deletion represent exciting possibilities for the prevention and treatment of the virus. A new class of pharmaceuticals termed CCR5 antagonists, as well as CCR5-?32 stem cell transplantation, hold therapeutic promise not just for HIV but also other chemokine mediated diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune myocarditis, and cancer.