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| The Man: José Alcami |
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| The Plant: Euphorbia (one of many types of Euphorbia) |
Interview with José Alcami, from the the Instituto de Salud Carlos III in Madrid
Interview conducted on July 17, 2010 at the "Toward a Cure" HIV Reservoirs Workshop, Vienna, Austria
AIDS Policy Project: Thanks so much for sitting down with us. Tell us about your work.
I work in Spain in a basic research lab*. We study the mechanism of HIV latency and re-activation--we want to understand why and how the virus can remain silent in some lymphocytes [a type of immune system cell] and what are the triggers for the replication of the virus. The virus can be completely asleep in some cells.
We are interested in mechanisms of entry of the virus into cells-- how chemokines--small protein molecules that guide cells--block the entry of the virus.
[Remember: The goal is to flush out and kill the latent HIV virus in "viral reservoirs" that remain in the body even when viral load is considered undetectable.]
One thing we do is test new compounds. We receive compounds from pharmaceutical companies, universities, and small biotech companies, and we check the antiviral activity of these compounds--those that can induce activation of the virus, and some that block the entry of HIV into the cell.
To do this, we check the compounds in recombinant viruses and some cell models [HIV grown in labs rather than from people’s bodies]--they are cheap and sensitive and we can check the induction and replication.
We are studying the mechanisms by which the virus activates.
Right now we are looking a compound, jatrophane diterpene (SJ23B), that triggers SJ23 ( a cell membrane protein). It's a plant extract from a plant called Euphorbia that is found in the Mediterranean. This chemical compound is very useful to reactivate the virus. [The abstract states that SJ23B is 10 times better at activating latent virus than prostratin, another HIV activating compound.]
It's exciting--the compound works using two different mechanisms. When cells are latent, it reactivates the virus. Also, it protects uninfected cells around any infected cells.
So it activates HIV but decreases HIV infection in culture [in the Petri dish or test tube]. The idea would be to use pulsing treatments—on again, off again.
Next step: To test the compound in mice.
Obstacles: There is not much money for basic science research in Europe.
* Basic research is essentially test-tube and petri dish research. The work, if it is successful, is eventually tested in people. That is called clinical research.
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