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Researcher Dong Sung An works on campus on pre-emptive AIDS treatments.

Twenty-plus years of research and investigation have led UCLA laboratories to the newest discovery in the fight against AIDS.

In 1981, the first case of AIDS was documented by UCLA scientists after a series of similar rare illnesses had occurred at the UCLA Medical Center.

To date, there are between 800,000 and 900,000 people living with HIV in the United State, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Now, two decades later, UCLA research involving over 50 blood samples from HIV patients shows that adding a gene for a protein called telomerase halts the premature aging of immune cells that combat HIV.

The new research – published on Nov. 15 in the Journal of Immunology – shows that the addition of the telomerase protein aids immune cells in fighting against the virus for longer periods.

Once inserted, the gene may help support a patient’s immune system and their ability to combat the virus by producing the new protein.

The work done at UCLA is the first step in developing telomerase-based treatments for the HIV disease.

Most AIDS researchers either work to create drugs that fight the virus or find treatments to boost the body’s immune system.

The work of some scientists at the UCLA AIDS Institute focuses on the latter and concerns “Killer T-Cells,” which help to fight the HIV virus.

These findings help the immune system become stronger but will also go beyond simply suppressing the virus as drugs do, and allow the immune system to overcome it.

“T-Cells do not get infected by the virus. (They) are part of the immune system and help the body combat AIDS,” said Dr. Rita Effros, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine and member of the AIDS Institute.

Every cell in the body has a tiny cellular clock called a telomere, and the clock’s time shortens every time the cell splits. After the time is up, the cell can no longer function.

Because the body must go through so much stress while fighting the HIV virus, the T-Cells must divide rapidly; consequently, they die off sooner than in healthy humans. The telomeres of a middle-aged human may be comparable to that of a 90-year-old, scientists say.

“Our research has shown that by adding back the gene for telomerase, we can rejuvenate T-Cells,” Effros said.

If the telomeres don’t get shorter and T-Cells function better, then the virus has a more difficult time affecting the body, Effros added.

By looking at strengthening the immune system, Effros and about half a dozen other scientists have opened a new type of approach to the treatment of AIDS that might potentially lead to new forms of immunotherapy.

Currently, scientists at UCLA along with a company called Geron Corporation are looking at chemicals that the company has produced which can do the same things as the insertion of genes into the T-Cells.

The fight against AIDS has been a long, uphill battle, with no end in sight.

Through December 2000, a total of 774,467 cases of AIDS have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and so far about 58 percent have died.

But with researchers at UCLA and around the world investigating both preventative and treatment options, the spread of the disease may decrease.