Close X
Saturday, November 30, 2024
ADVT 
Health

Cows Can Cure HIV. Surprised? Well This Is What Researchers In The US Have Found

Darpan News Desk IANS, 25 Jul, 2017 12:48 PM
  • Cows Can Cure HIV. Surprised? Well This Is What Researchers In The US Have Found

A study published in journal Nature by researchers at Scripps Research Institute, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and Texas A&M University has found that cows hold the clue to HIV cure.

 

The researchers were able to induce potent antibodies against HIV in cows. Cows never get infected by HIV. Their immune systems produce unique antibodies against infections.

 

As part of the research, the scientists injected four calves with HIV immunogens, reports the Time.com. The researchers discovered that the cows quickly developed bNAbs, or a neutralising antibody that defends a cell from an antigen or infectious body by neutralizing any effect it has biologically, to HIV in their blood.

 

 

An immunogen is any antigen capable of inducing humoral and/or cell-mediated immune response instead of immunological response.

 

The scientists were pleasantly shocked by the unique discovery. “I was shocked,” TIME quoted study author Devin Sok as saying. He said that the calves developed responses against HIV at an unanticipated speed. Not only this, the scientists were also able to isolate the antibodies from the calves and they identified “NC-Cow 1” as the most powerful antibody attacking the HIV.

 
 
With the study, the scientists were able to study how the immune systems of cows is capable of creating such antibodies.

 

Cows cannot be infected with HIV, of course. But these findings illuminate a new goal for HIV vaccine researchers: by increasing the number of human antibodies with long loops, we might have an easier chance of eliciting protective bnAbs by vaccination," the researchers noted.

 

While no one knows definitively why these powerful antibodies evolved in cattle, one theory holds that the key could be in long loops of bNAbs, called HCDR3, which are tied to the animals’ extensive gastrointestinal systems. The researchers note that a promising approach to HIV vaccine development may be to promote the human immune system’s development of long HCDR3 loops.

 

“HIV is a human virus,” said Devin Sok, a study leader and Antibody Discovery and Development Director at IAVI, “but researchers can certainly learn from immune responses across the animal kingdom.”

 
 
 
According to TIME, understanding of the immune system of cows that effectively develops antibodies against HIV is a “valuable information” for the scientists, who are hoping to develop an HIV vaccine. It will, however, depend on whether the scientists are able to develop a way through which human bodies can mimic the process through which cows create these antibodies.
 

Scientists have so far been unable to develop a vaccine against HIV. After this study, the researchers are hopeful of applying their finding on humans.

MORE Health ARTICLES

Keeping Newborns Cool: Special Blanket Offers Hope To Babies Deprived Of Oxygen

Keeping Newborns Cool: Special Blanket Offers Hope To Babies Deprived Of Oxygen
CALGARY — Newborns deprived of oxygen at birth will soon have improved chances of surviving without brain injuries thanks to a portable cooling blanket in southern Alberta. 

Keeping Newborns Cool: Special Blanket Offers Hope To Babies Deprived Of Oxygen

Drinking Alcohol May Cause 7 Types Of Cancer

Drinking Alcohol May Cause 7 Types Of Cancer
The highest risks are associated with the heaviest drinking, but a considerable burden is experienced by drinkers with low to moderate consumption.

Drinking Alcohol May Cause 7 Types Of Cancer

Shaking Baby Could Be Deadly, Say Physicians

Shaking Baby Could Be Deadly, Say Physicians
90 per cent of doctors believe shaking can flood infant's brain - but courts still question the diagnosis

Shaking Baby Could Be Deadly, Say Physicians

How Does Zika Spread? Utah Infection Raises New Questions

NEW YORK — Health officials are trying to unravel how a relative may have picked up a Zika infection from a Utah man who died.

How Does Zika Spread? Utah Infection Raises New Questions

5 Things To Know About E-Cigarettes

5 Things To Know About E-Cigarettes
Parents and doctors questioning teens about whether they smoke should also be asking if they're using e-cigarettes, which could be a gateway to nicotine addiction later on, says a pediatrician who led a new study.

5 Things To Know About E-Cigarettes

Woman Found To Spread Zika Through Sex For 1st Time

Woman Found To Spread Zika Through Sex For 1st Time
NEW YORK — A New York City woman infected her male partner with Zika virus through sex, the first time female-to-male transmission of the germ has been documented.

Woman Found To Spread Zika Through Sex For 1st Time