Research Roundup: A new drug for tuberculosis, contraceptive research and development, drug-resistant malaria, and more

A new compound has successfully protected monkeys from HIV, according to a study published in Nature last week. The compound stimulates the production of claw-shaped proteins that are able to simultaneously block the two different parts of white blood cells—the CD4 and CCR5 binding sites—to which the HIV virus normally attaches. After scientists at the Scripps Research Institute “vaccinated” monkeys with the compound, they repeatedly tried and failed to infect the monkeys with large doses of varied HIV strains over the course of a year. The team will next test if they are able to slow the replication of virus and the progress of the diseases in monkeys infected with HIV, before starting human trials. Last week, the World Health Organization approved the ReEBOV Antigen Rapid Test for Ebola, which requires only a test tube and a piece of paper and can provide results in approximately 15 minutes. The test is simple to administer and interpret, with the lead developer explaining “a drop of blood is placed on the paper, and if two lines appear, then it’s positive for Ebola.” The use of blood, however, requires a ‘biosafety cabinet’ in the form of either a box or a tent that can protect health workers from the virus. The test also has specificity and sensitivity issues, only detecting 92% of cases and with approximately 15% of uninfected people testing positive for Ebola. CBS correspondent Bob Simon investigated ZMapp, an experimental drug for Ebola, as part of his final story for 60 minutes before his death last month. Prior to the current Ebola epidemic, ZMapp had only been tested on monkeys; however, last summer, it was used to treat seven patients, five of whom survived. The US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases commenced clinical trials for ZMapp in Liberia on Friday. ZMapp is created using tobacco plants, which are saturated with a gene that stimulates the production of Ebola-fighting antibodies. As the plant grows, increasing rates of antibodies are produced—a process Simon likened to “a Xerox machine for antibodies.” Secretary of State John Kerry testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee last Wednesday on the US Department of State’s 2016 budget proposal. The Committee’s Ranking Member Eliot Engel (D-NY) emphasized the importance of global health “research, infrastructure, and personnel,” in preventing future epidemics such as the Ebola crisis in West Africa and expressed his dismay at “proposed cuts to global health programs dealing with tuberculosis [and] neglected tropical diseases.”

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. Newsweek took an in-depth look at the work of Sanaria, a small biotechnology organization striving to develop a vaccine to effectively eradicate malaria. Naturally-acquired immunity is common in malaria-endemic regions, however, it takes an estimated three years for children to develop even partial immunity. The team at Sanaria has produced a vaccine that is considered the safest and most effective vaccine to date, preventing malaria in 100 percent of participants in initial trials. The vaccine defends against Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite responsible for nearly all fatal cases of malaria. Despite the success of initial trials and accolades such as the 2014 Vaccine Industry Excellence Award for “Best Prophylactic Vaccine,” Sanaria struggles to get adequate coverage or funding to continue, let alone escalate, the development of the vaccine. A virulent new form of HIV has been reported in Cuba, leading to an accelerated transition from HIV to AIDS. The HIV virus must attach itself to certain 'receptors,' or proteins on the cell membrane, before entering the human cell. The virus has historically attached itself first to the protein CCR5, and after several years it develops the ability to attach to the CXCR4 protein, a development which often correlates to the transition to AIDS. The aggressive new strand is recombinant, a variant of the virus resulting from a combination of multiple strands of HIV. Researchers at the Ku Leuven’s Laboratory for Clinical and Epidemiological Virology have seen particularly high levels of both the virus and the RANTES molecule in patients. The RANTES molecule, a natural part of the human immune response, combats HIV by attaching to the CCR5 proteins, which prevents the virus’s ability to enter the cells, resulting in the virus adapting to attach to the CXCR4 proteins. Patients with the new, recombinant strand may develop AIDS within just three years of infection, before many are even diagnosed with HIV. Mother Jones examined the impact of climate change on the spread of infectious diseases, and the role that vaccines can play in mitigating that impact. Climate change, and in particular, extreme climate events, can not only weaken existing health systems, but higher temperatures and levels of rainfall are actually correlated to increased cases of certain diseases, such as rotavirus. As Alistair Woodward, an epidemiologist at the University of Auckland explained, “ensuring that people are vaccinated is a logical thing to do as part of managing the risks of a rapidly changing climate.”