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| |  Major Research Breakthrough in HIV Infection OMAHA, Neb., Aug. 28, 1996-- Researchers at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) in Omaha have created the first comprehensive small animal model for HIV dementia, a breakthrough that will enable first- time testing of anti-HIV compounds for their ability to penetrate the blood-brain barrier and effect what is often considered to be the most devastating consequence of HIV infection -- the loss of mental and motor functions. The research study, reported in today's edition of the American Journal of Pathology, was headed by Dr. Howard Gendelman and Dr. Yuri Persidsky of UNMC. The project involved the development of an animal model system for studying the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the brain by grafting HIV-infected cells into the brains of mice with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID). During the later stages of HIV infection, the virus invades the brain in most AIDS patients, causing serious mental and motor deficits in about one-third of affected individuals. This stage, known as HIV dementia, is what AIDS patients fear the most, said Dr. Gendelman, and it can sometimes lead to blindness. "Without an effective animal model, we have been unable to develop drugs that will significantly penetrate the blood-brain barrier and treat HIV dementia," said Dr. Gendelman. "This animal model represents a major breakthrough, as the HIV dementia in the SCID mice is virtually indistinguishable from HIV infection in human brains. The present HIV medications are effective at eradicating the virus in most sites of the body. However, the brain has been the one exception. Because of the blood-brain barrier HIV medications have almost no effect once the virus finds its way to the brain." The three-year study was a collaborative effort involving scientists at UNMC, the University of South Carolina, the University of Rochester, and Glaxo Wellcome, the leading pharmaceutical company in the development of new therapies for HIV and AIDS. Another benefit of the animal model system is that it may have implications outside of HIV disease. Dr. Gendelman said the animal model also may be beneficial in furthering research on Alzheimer's disease, as brain inflammation is a common feature of both Alzheimer's and HIV.
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