At first, the focus on nutrition, Yoga, and alternative therapies was successful at rebuilding my immune system. It prevented HIV-disease from escalating any further in my body. The unique combination of therapies and HAART-medications worked to reverse the downward trend towards death. It commuted what once was a death sentence. But this wasn't enough.

Eventually, the toxic cocktail of HIV-medications traditionally known as HAART-therapy caused my body to decline. A complex decision became hard to balance. The symptoms of HIV-related peripheral neuropathy and lean muscle loss returned. As my body began to fade away, I looked to Yoga for a solution.

Down the hall from my yoga class is the AIDS Research Alliance [ARA] where clinical trials are conducted on human volunteers for HIV/AIDS medications. I discovered that ARA was conducting a clinical trial to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of a therapeutic vaccine for HIV-1 infection.

I learned researchers were focused on creating an immune response which would stimulate the body's immune system to create its own successful response to the virus. As a volunteer, I participate in clinical trials. And no longer was I interested in clinical trials for HIV/AIDS medications designed to "contain the virus." I looked for clinical trials where "viral eradication" was the goal.

In 2006, I assembled information from my Permanent Medical Records to qualify and completed the baseline blood tests for enrollment. I stepped forward hoping this clinical trial would somehow find a successful alternative therapy to the toxic cocktail keeping me alive. It has turned out to be just that, and more ...

Quickly, I saw that the development of immune-based therapies [IBT] for the treatment of HIV infection is a complex challenge. It requires an understanding of the potential of the immune system to control the virus, and also the development and validation of a "biomarker" for clinical trials that predicts the risk for disease progression. IBT vary in strategy and technology and include not only vaccines, but also proteins and drugs that support and boost the immune response.

The HIV theraputic vaccine was administered using a needle-free injection device (called the Biojector® 2000). The main purposes of the study were to test the safety and tolerability of the HIV theraputic vaccine when it was given to people once a week for 5 weeks, and to test whether or not the HIV theraputic vaccine given in this fashion would cause or produce immune system responses in people with HIV-1 infection.

The HIV theraputic vaccine was made up of a piece of DNA (material that tells a cell what proteins to make) that contained small portions of the DNA related to six major proteins made by HIV-1. These six proteins help to make up part of the virus or to control its function. The HIV theraputic vaccine did not contain HIV itself and did not contain all of the parts needed for the virus to make whole active viruses.

The HIV theraputic vaccine is investigational, meaning that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved it for use by prescription in the United States, although the FDA has reviewed and approved protocol to be conducted in human volunteers.

Researchers have now reported encouraging results from a similar clinical trial using this "gene therapy" approach to treat HIV. For the first time, researchers have slowed and possibly stopped the AIDS virus from reproducing in patients by using gene therapy that tricks it into self-destructing.

This study, reported at the 15th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections [CROI], involved patients given an intravenous infusion of their own immune cells that had been modified using a theraputic gene called "antisense," in an attempt to make the cells resistant to HIV infection.

Even if medical science cannot discover a vaccine to prevent HIV infection — this raises the hope that patients may be able to keep HIV under control, perhaps without relying on the toxic drug cocktails.

Gene therapy involves introducing genetic material into a person's cells to turn specific functions on or off. Gene therapy is complicated, as a gene cannot be directly inserted into a person's cell. It must be delivered to the cell using a "vector."

Vectors commonly used in gene therapy are viruses. The "theraputic vaccine" is the first to use HIV as a vector—HIV that has had its genetic material removed then filled with theraputic material called antisense.

When the modified cells are given back to the patient, the antisense gene is permanently integrated into the cellular DNA. When the virus starts to replicate, the antisense gene prevents production of the envelope gene, thereby shutting down HIV replication. For HIV to mutate around gene therapy treatment, it has to commit suicide.

It is reported that if gene therapy becomes an approved treatment, the estimated cost for the one-time series of infusions would be $130,000. While that's a hefty sum, the lifetime cost for conventional HIV-fighting drugs is about $700,000.

Researchers hope that clinical trials for a HIV theraputic vaccine will provide insights that will lead to effective treatments of HIV/AIDS. An overarching hope is that the successful development of a HIV therapeutic vaccine would result in "a vaccine that may help the body/immune system to better work for itself" so that HIV-positive individuals on HAART-medications could "stop taking medication, and still be in care." Ultimately, the key hope lies in the belief that "more medications are not the solution."

The Next Step

Elite controllers are defined as patients who, despite not being on any HIV therapy for at least one year, manage to maintain virus level at undetectible levels or nearly so [less than 2000 copies]. In 2007, AIDS Research Alliance announced plans to begin the recruitment for volunteers to participate in the Elite Controllers Study subject to AIDS Research Alliance Institutional Review Board approval.

Gary G
yoga_for_hiv@mac.com
Y O G A for H I V
~®~

"The places where you have the most
resistence are actually going to be the areas
of greatest liberation." –Rodney Yee

.

Helpful links

1. AIDS Research Alliance [ARA] website; http://www.aidsresearch.org

2. AIDS Research Alliance [ARA] general inquiry eMail: info@aidsresearch.org

3. University of Pennsylvania / VIRxSYS Corp. clinical trial: "Study says genetic trick slows AIDS virus growth..." by Marie McCullough, Inquirer Staff Writer, The Philadelphia Inquirer: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20080207_Study_says_genetic_trick_slows_AIDS_virus_growth. html

4. AIDS.ORG: http://www.aids.org :

Yoga Studios that have classes for students who want to improve their immune system (especially HIV/AIDS)

URBAN YOGA CENTER, Healing Arts Community Contact

Kristin Olson
458 S. Palm Canyon Drive
Palm Springs,CA 92262
Phone 760-320-7702

Center for Yoga
230 N. Larchmont Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90004
323.464.1276

Yoga Works - Westwood
1256 Westwood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90024


Ye-Ha Yoga & Wellness Center Contact

Marla Mock
301 Artman Ave. Phone 317/432-9900
Lebanon,IN 46052

Your Yoga Contact

Patti D
24 Lamplight Drive Phone 603-362-8428
Atkinson,NH 03811

Ancient Healing Arts Yoga - West Contact

Barbara Rooney, RYT
139 W. Panamint Ave Phone 760-382-1645
Ridgecrest,CA 93555

YogaYoga Contact

Shula Day-Savage
276 Nelson Street Phone

613-266-YOGA
Ottawa,ON

Birch Street Center for Yoga and Yoga Therapy Contact

Stephanie Kristal
11 Birch Street Phone

845 679-5026
West Hurley,NY 12491

Integrated Yoga Contact

Veronica Vidal
180 Crandon Blvd. #113 Phone

305-365-5483
Key Biscayne,FL 33149

Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation Contact

Traci Toutant
1440 West Washington Blvd. Phone 312-377-6895
Chicago,IL 60607

Yoga Therapy (Hatha Yoga) Classes Contact

Jyoti Gudka (BRCP)
125 Whitchurch Gardens Phone 0208 952 5965
Edgware,Middlesex HA8 6PG

Siddha Yoga Contact

Acharya Sri Chandrahas sharma
F-41, Jeewan Park , Pankha road, Uttam Nagar Phone

(+91) 11- 5550761, 5515034
New Delhi,Delhi 110059

Hamilton Aids Network
135 Rebecca St Phone 905-528-0854
Hamilton,ON