Health & Medicine - Posted by Jessica Kelly-Cardiff on Tuesday, May 10, 2011 16:02 - 4 Comments 
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...HIV drugs home in on deadly parasites
Effective drugs are urgently needed to treat parasitic disease such as leishmaniasis, above, and malaria that kills millions of people around the world. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
CARDIFF U. (UK) — Drugs used to treat HIV have the potential to be a significant game changer in the treatment of parasitic disease, a monumental threat to global health.
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“People in developing countries can be exposed to parasitic diseases such as malaria and leishmaniasis that can kill millions of people, so new and effective drugs are urgently needed to combat these infections, says Colin Berry of Cardiff University.
The identified protein, Ddi 1 from Leishmania parasites is sensitive to anti-HIV inhibitors, Berry says.
The research is published in the FASEB Journal.
“The use of existing anti-HIV agents has indicated that there is a potential target in some parasites and by identifying the protein responsible, we hope to exploit this weakness in the parasite to develop new and effective therapeutics to combat these devastating diseases.”
Researchers studied yeast that lacked the Ddi protein and examined the effects of adding the protein and HIV inhibitors. When using human Ddi 1, they also identified drugs that could block the activity of the Leishmania protein, but which were much weaker against the human equivalent, suggesting that possible side effects in a future drug could be reduced.
More news from Cardiff University: www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/
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4 Comments
Mandy, thanks for your comment. I consulted a few references, and several note that “hone in” is an acceptable alternative to “home in”, however there’s not universal agreement. (Here’s a great article on the topic: http://grammar.about.com/od/alightersideofwriting/a/homehonegloss.htm.) Since there’s no debate that “home in” is correct, we’ve adjusted the headline.
View the Award winning documentary “House of Numbers” to see why questions about this must be raised, and why deeper issues about HIV and AIDS need to be discussed. Lives are at risk. This is the first documentary,with the worlds
foremost authorities, that highlights the fundamental problems with HIV
testing, science, and statistics. It sheds new light on a misunderstood
phenomenon for which there is still no cure. GO to bit.ly/fhUxaJ – bit.ly/gogKLZ to see the trailer.
Thank you for changing the headline to “home in” …
Harriet, from the OED on my computer and online:
verb [ no obj. ]
1 (of an animal) return by instinct to its territory after leaving it: a dozen geese homing to their summer nesting grounds.
• (of a pigeon bred for long-distance racing) fly back to or arrive at its loft after being released at a distant point.
2 (home in on) move or be aimed toward (a target or destination) with great accuracy: more than 100 missiles were launched, homing in on radar emissions.
• focus attention on: a teaching style that homes in on what is of central importance for each student.
From etymology online: home (v.) 1765, “to go home”, from home (n.). Meaning “be guided to a destination by radio signals, etc. (of missiles, aircraft, etc.) is from 1920; it had been used earlier in reference to pigeons (1862). Related: Homed; homing. O.E. had hamian “to establish in a home”.
I’m sure the study is great, but your headline isn’t. To hone is “to sharpen.” What guns (and pharmaceuticals) do to targets is “home” in.