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Canadian Blood Services’ Scientist Discovery May Lead to Improved Treatment for HIV/AIDS

Ottawa, February 4, 2002 — Canadian Blood Services’ Dr. Donald Branch together with other researchers in Toronto and Winnipeg have discovered a new protein that helps HIV to infect cells. The protein called VPAC1 is found on the surface of many cells, including those that can be infected by HIV. This discovery may lead to improved treatment in the prevention of HIV infection.

The research team, lead by Dr. Branch, found that the protein VPAC1, when present, greatly facilitates HIV infection of cells. When very little of this protein is present or when it can be decreased on the surface of the cells, HIV infection is absent or decreased.

"This is a very significant discovery. HIV is known to require cell surface proteins for it to be able to infect cells," said Dr. Branch. "Although three different types of proteins have been identified so far, it has been suspected that there exist additional proteins that help the virus infection. This VPAC1 protein appears to be an extremely important component in the HIV infection cycle. It may be that by developing a means of blocking this protein that HIV infection can be prevented or its treatment improved."

So far, HIV has infected 59 million people worldwide and, currently, there are approximately 15,000 new HIV infections everyday in the world, 1,500 of these cases are in children. The identification of this new protein that appears to facilitate HIV infections may be a breakthrough in leading to new approaches to treatment strategies. The Toronto research team is currently conducting additional studies on this protein to determine more precisely its role in HIV infection and to develop specific strategies to inhibit its production and /or function.

Dr. Branch has been a Scientist with Canadian Blood Services for 11 years and is also an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto and is appointed to the Toronto General Research Institute. Results of this research were published in a recent issue of the medical journal AIDS.

With over 26 scientists and affiliated researchers, CBS is fostering an innovative scientific community with ingenuity and drive. The diverse expertise these scientists bring to the area of transfusion
science is propelling CBS into a new era of research excellence.

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