
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 1, 1995                   TAG: 9502020012
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                  LENGTH: Short

SCIENTISTS TRY SELF-DESTRUCTING AIDS VACCINE

Scientists searching for a safe AIDS vaccine said Tuesday they have created one with a built-in time bomb - a gene that will cleanse it from the body on cue.

Researchers believe the most effective AIDS vaccine is likely to be a live virus, which would prime the body to mount a spirited reaction to HIV. Many, though, worry about giving healthy people even a weakened form of the AIDS virus, since it might cause cancer, immune suppression or even AIDS.

A team from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has come up with a novel strategy: a live but weakened AIDS virus that can be killed off once it does its job.

A team headed by Dr. Kuan-Teh Jeang created a form of the AIDS virus that carries an extra gene taken from the herpes virus. Because of this gene, cells that become infected with the virus can be selectively destroyed with ganciclovir, a widely available herpes medicine.

``We attempted to improve the safety of an HIV vaccine using a suicide gene,'' said Dr. Stephen M. Smith, who presented the results at an AIDS meeting sponsored by the American Society for Microbiology.

Smith said the approach looks promising in the test tube. But much more testing, including extensive use in monkeys, will be necessary before it can be tried on people. He said human studies are at least three years away.

by CNB