Hong Kong - Researchers are developing an HIV/AIDS vaccine that targets three strains of the virus spreading through parts of China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Two closely related HIV strains are spreading primarily through injection drug use in China’s southwestern Yunnan province, the northwestern Xinjiang province and the southern Guangdong province. A third strain spread primarily through heterosexual sex has been found in Yunnan and the southern Guangxi province, according to Chen Zhiwei of Hong Kong’s newly created AIDS Institute. Chen added that researchers have been employing gene sequencing to track the evolution of HIV strains in China, as well as their geographic spread.

The HIV strains found in south and west China are similar to strains found in Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Myanmar, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, Chen said. He added that the similarity between strains in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong could indicate the traveling routes used by injection drug users in the region.

According to Chen, researchers in China and the U.S. in collaboration with the AIDS Institute have developed a vaccine based on the two HIV strains spread by injection drug use. He added that they aim to have the vaccine in animal tests by the end of the year. Researchers hope to determine if the vaccine would be effective against the strain primarily spread through sex, Chen said. There is about a 60% to 70% “identity between the subtypes,” Chen said, adding, “If viruses are very closely related, changes of cross-protection are better”

Los Angeles - UCLA researchers have found that a key protein in the body’s dendritic cells can stop the virus that causes AIDS from “budding” - part of the virus’ life cycle that is crucial to its ability to replicate and infect other cells.

“If we can block virus generation, then we can control the disease,” said lead author Shen Pang, associate professor in the division of oral biology and medicine at the UCLA School of Dentistry and a member of the UCLA AIDS Institute.

Dendritic cells are specialized white blood cells in the skin, mucosa and lymph nodes that kick-start a primary immune response to foreign invaders by activating lymphocytes, including the T cells that HIV targets. Though dendritic cells can be infected with HIV - and indeed play a crucial role in transmitting the virus to T cells - studies have shown that viral generation from these cells is nearly a hundred times lower than from infected T cells, indicating that the cells may possess some inhibiting property.

Pang hypothesized that DC-SIGN, a protein expressed in dendritic cells, may be responsible for such inhibition. He and his colleagues found that DC-SIGN and a related protein, DC-SIGNR, both demonstrated 95 percent to 99.5 percent inhibition of viral production from host cells.

Very few cells are infected when HIV first enters the human body, but the virus rapidly creates new copies of itself, which in turn infect more cells. To achieve this, the virus, after infecting a cell, sends envelopes of protein to the cell’s membrane. The viral genomes then combine with viral structural proteins and move into these envelopes. The envelopes bubble, or bud, outward, releasing viral particles that will infect more cells and start new viral life cycles.

According to the researchers, DC-SIGN appears to block HIV generation by efficiently neutralizing an HIV glycoprotein on the surface of the HIV envelope known as gp120, a key to viral infection. In such cases, while some viral particles may still be released from the infected dendritic cells, the lack of gp120 in their envelopes means they are not infectious to CD4-positive T-lymphocytes and macrophages. In other words, these viral particles have been rendered uninfectious.

Current methods to interrupt the life cycle of the virus are limited because they generally target HIV at the stages of viral entry, reverse transcription and post-translational protein cleavages. Once the virus passes through these stages, treatment fails. The UCLA researchers, therefore, focused on halting the virus’ generation at different stages in its life cycle.

“The strong inhibition of viral production by DC-SIGN suggests the possibility of using this protein for treatment of HIV-infected patients,” the researchers write. “Expression of this protein in various CD4-positive cells should inhibit viral production from infected cells. Because it can also enhance the immune response, DC-SIGN is expected to be useful for in vivo studies for developing an HIV vaccine.”

The study, scheduled for publication in the April issue of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology’s FASEB Journal and may be available online at http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/rapidpdf/fj.07-9443comv3.pdf. Pang’s co-author is Qiuwei Wang, a postgraduate researcher in the division of oral biology and medicine at the UCLA School of Dentistry.

This study was supported by the UCLA AIDS Institute, the UCLA School of Dentistry and a grant from the US National Institutes of Health.

Auckland - The ever-popular Big Gay Out is coming to Coyle Park again in Pt Chevalier, Auckland, New Zealand, for the eighth year running, on Sunday February 10 from noon till 7pm.

The event, which regularly attracts crowds in excess of 10,000, is organised and sponsored by the New Zealand AIDS Foundation and Marquis Condoms as a vehicle for raising HIV awareness, encouraging safe sex for gay and bisexual men, and building strong communities.

The Big Gay Out has come to be known as Auckland’s annual fair day for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, takataapui and transgender communities, and is promising something for everyone. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, you can ask one of the Big Gay Out ambassadors, who will be roaming the park throughout the day to hand out site plans, entertainment guides and to answer questions.

Following a short HIV/AIDS memorial service at noon which includes the New Zealand Quilt Project, a huge variety of entertainment is on offer at the Marquis Condoms stage; from kapa haka group Toa to drag divas Buckwheat and Cindy of Samoa, singer/songwriters and dance covers band “Pulse”, who made a big impact when they last appeared at the Big Gay Out in 2004.
“There are still some slots available for entertainers,” says event organiser Jonathan Smith. “If you’re interested in performing, you can register through our online application form at www.gaynz.com/BGO .”

Also back by popular demand are the Stiletto Stampede, Toss The Handbag and infamous Dog Lookalike contests. Midget The Clown will be on hand to keep the kids entertained, while the adults can party down in the Family Dance Tent, relax in the Fluffy Beer Garden, or enjoy the fare on offer at the international food stalls.

Food stalls have been increased this year and as well as regular fair day food of hot dogs and fish and chips, there’ll also be gourmet wild food, Indonesian cuisine, finger foods, rolls, organic coffee, crepes, shaved ice, Brazilian BBQ and ice-cream.

Health promotion activities targeted at gay and bisexual men will also play a key part in the day. The winners of last year’s Safe Sex Poster Boy contest will be launching a new resource and posing for souvenir photos with the crowds, and recruiters will be on hand to encourage participation in the biannual Gay Auckland Periodic Sex Survey.

The Big Gay Out is the flagship event of the month-long Hero Festival in February, which celebrates the diversity of Auckland’s GLBTT communities.

“Each year it’s a challenge to make the Big Gay Out a bigger and brighter event than it was the year before,” Smith says, “but we’ve risen to the challenge and I think the crowds will be thrilled with what we’ve put together for 2008.”

For more information about the Big Gay Out, including a site map and entertainment schedule, visit www.gaynz.com/BGO .

Singapore - Changi General Hospital is offering a voluntary opt-out HIV testing for all inpatients aged 21 years and above from Monday, 17 December.

At admission, adult inpatients will be told about the HIV test and asked to sign a general consent for medical, surgical treatment and diagnostic procedures, including HIV testing.

Inpatients can decline to be tested.

The identities of those who come forward for testing and are found to be HIV positive will be kept strictly confidential.

Beijing - Chinese who live abroad for more than a year will have to take an HIV test on their return, according to a regulation which takes effect on Saturday, the World AIDS Day.

The regulation on the cross-border control and prevention of AIDS was issued by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (GAQSIQ) back in May.

Chinese citizens will be required to take an HIV test at the border when he or she enters the country, or apply for a HIV test form at the border and take the test at qualified local hospitals within a month.

Foreigners wanting to stay in China for more than a year will also be required to take an HIV test and show the results to the public security departments when applying for a residence certificate.

Chinese employees working for international transport services, such as airlines, cross-border bus and train services will also have to take HIV tests.

On the other hand, China is relaxing restrictions on HIV carriers visiting the country from overseas.

“China has started revising the current laws and regulations that ban HIV carriers from entering the country,” health ministry spokesman Mao Qun’an said earlier this month.

China issued the Law on Control of the Entry and Exit of Aliens in 1985, regulating that foreigners with infectious diseases such as leprosy, HIV/AIDS and venereal disease were not allowed to enter the country.

“According to the transmissive nature of HIV/AIDS and our current evaluation of the harmfulness of HIV carriers, we have decided to revise laws and regulations that ban HIV carriers’ from entering the country,” Mao said.

But he didn’t say when and how the laws would be revised.

The new regulation to take effect on Saturday December 1 said that HIV-positive people, Chinese and foreigners, shall report to the quarantine authority when entering China. The authority will inform the local disease control and prevention departments after confirming the report.

A report issued by China’s Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS said that by the end of October 2007, a total of 223,501 people had been officially reported to carry HIV in China, including 62,838 AIDS patients.

The real figures are estimated at 85,000 AIDS patients and 700,000 people living with HIV/AIDS.

Globally, 2.5 million people have been diagnosed with HIV so far in 2007, with a total of 33.2 million living with the virus.