Subject: AIDS Hybrid Antibody Triggers `Killer' Blood Cells
Date: Published: 6/3/91 (35 lines)
Source: Wall Street Journal. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc.

    Technology:
    AIDS Hybrid Antibody
    Triggers `Killer' Blood Cells

    SAN FRANCISCO -- Scientists at the University of
 California here said they created an antibody that provokes
 "killer" white blood cells to destroy cells where the
 acquired immune deficiency syndrome virus hides.
    Matthias Wabl and Jorg Berg said they formed a hybrid
 antibody that acts to link a protein on the surface of the
 AIDS-infected cell with a protein on T-cells, a type of white
 blood cell.  The agent then galvanizes the T-cell to become a
 "killer" cell and attack the infection.
    "We are taking killer cells that are blind to {the AIDS
 virus} and giving them ability to see and kill the virus,"
 Mr. Wabl said.  The full report is in the current issue of the
 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
    The scientists said test-tube studies show the designer
 antibody can effectively kill infected human cells, even
 those hard-to-reach, "silently" infected cells where the
 virus takes refuge.  The team said the next step is to produce
 the antibody in larger quantities to test in animals and in
 humans.
    The work was performed in collaboration with two
 biotechnology firms, Chiron Corp., Emeryville, Calif., and
 Genentech Inc., South San Francisco, which is 60%-owned by
 Roche Holding Ltd., Basel, Switzerland.

[This article is made available here by Dow Jones Co. for the
 personal and non-commercial use of callers to this bbs, in the
 hope that it will be of some help to those who are suffering
 from the disease and others who are seeking to help them.]