Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 2, 1995 TAG: 9503020055
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BOSTON LENGTH: Medium
The AIDS virus typically takes 10 years to kill a person. During this time, the virus relentlessly destroys a variety of disease-fighting white blood cells called helper T cells.
If the new treatment works as doctors hope, it could tip the balance in favor of the body, allowing it to produce these cells faster than the virus can kill them.
``This is the first time I truly in my gut feel excited'' about an AIDS treatment, said Dr. H. Clifford Lane, a researcher at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who is reporting his findings in today's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
The new approach involves on-and-off infusions of interleukin 2, a natural protein that regulates the body's immune defenses. It worked only in those patients who were infected with the virus but had not yet developed AIDS.
Some patients have been taking it for up to 31/2 years with no sign of waning effectiveness - something no other medicine has accomplished.
Other treatments, such as the drug AZT, attack the virus directly. While this may temporarily spare T cells from destruction, allowing them to rebound modestly, the drugs quickly lose their punch.
The new treatment carries a serious drawback - side effects that mimic a severe case of flu. Furthermore, researchers have not tested it long enough to be able to prove that it actually helps patients stay healthy longer.
``While extremely provocative, it remains to be shown that this will translate into resistance to opportunistic infections or prolongation of life,'' said Dr. William Paul, head of federal AIDS research.
A key to the new treatment appears to be its intermittent use. Once every two months, doctors give patients a five-day continuous dose of IL-2, which requires them to be attached to an infusion pump.
Healthy people have between 800 and 1,200 helper T cells per cubic millimeter of blood. These levels fall during the course of an AIDS infection.
The study found that IL-2 can drive T cells back up again, but only if people still have at least 400 cells per cubic millimeter to start with. Among 10 patients described in the study, six responded to the treatment with at least 50 percent increases in their helper cells. One patient's levels rose from 554 to 1,998.
by CNB