Chemical could be A.I.D.S. cure

Press, 7 April 1984, Page 12

Chemical could be A.I.D.S. cure

NZPA-Reuter Boston Doctors have reported that they may have discovered how the fatal disease, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, disrupts the body’s immune system, a finding that could point the way to a cure. The researchers said that they had found that the white blood cells of A.I.D.S. victims lost their ability to produce two substances the body needed to fight the infections that often killed A.I.D.S. patients. One of those substances is gamma interferon, a oncerare chemical that can now be made in large quantities

using genetic engineering techniques. Writing in the “New England Journal of Medicine,” the scientists said that their results were “encouraging” because they had offered evidence that gamma interferon might be a useful treatment for A.I.D.S.

The team, led by Dr Henry Murray, of Cornell University Medical College, cautioned that it was possible another immune system defect might be more important. But they concluded, “Our studies establish a rationale for vigorously pursuing evaluation of gamma interferon as a ... therapy.”