Word: blood
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Because so little is understood about how HTLV-III attacks the body, much of today's clinical research is directed at determining exactly how the virus interacts with the white blood cells. Both Hirsch and Groopman are involved in this basic work, labelled cell biology...
Both Groopman and Hirsch have found in laboratory tests that HTLV-III attacks not only the T-helper lymphocytes, but also another type of white blood cell, called a macrophage, that has been linked to cells in the brain. The macrophage or disease-fighting white blood cell is not killed by the virus, Groopman says, but instead is used as a breeding ground...
Another area of AIDS research Hirsch is examining is transmission of the HTLV-III virus. HTLV-III is only known to be transmitted by contaminated blood and semen. Researchers have not yet determined whether the virus can be transmitted by female genital fluids, although Hirsch has found evidence that such fluid may contain the virus. The virus can, however, be transmitted from mother to unborn child, by contaminated needles and transfusions. Since April 1985, blood banks have screened blood donations for signs of the virus...
...gene may also prove useful in diagnosing the stages of AIDS--a disease which has killed more than 11,300 Americans. Diagnostic tests screen the blood for antibodies to different parts of a virus and predict the progress of a disease. The art-gene produces a viral protein which researchers may be able to use in these sorts of tests...
Earlier this spring, Essex and some researchers in Senegal, Africa, discovered that a large portion of the human population had been infected with a close relative of the AIDS virus. HTLV-IV, as the researchers dubbed the new virus, infects some human white blood cells, just like the AIDS virus, but with one crucial difference--the AIDS virus kills the white blood cells and HTLV-IV does not. Essex says he hopes to "use molecules from HTLV-IV to create a protective response" from the human immune system...