P-T RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT--
August 5, 1998

"Potential HIV drug for newborns succeeds in monkey trials"
(Courtesy California Regional Primate Research Center, University
of California, Davis)

Researchers at the California Regional Primate Research Center have
found a simple and affordable way to potentially prevent mothers
from passing HIV infection on to  their newborns. About 1,700
newborn babies become infected perinatally with HIV every day, the
majority of these infections occurring in developing countries.
Simple and affordable intervention strategies are needed to reduce
the rate of HIV transmission from mother to infant in these
countries.

Koen Van Rompay, D.V.M., Ph.D., and his associates investigated
whether short-term administration of the novel reverse
transcriptase inhibitor 9-[2 (phosphonomethoxy)propyl]adenine
(PMPA) could protect newborn rhesus macaques against perinatal SIV
infection. Eight newborn macaques were inoculated orally with
highly virulent simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) within the
first three days of life. Four of these animals were untreated
controls. The other four animals were given one dose of PMPA (30
mg/kg subcutaneously) four hours before oral SIV inoculation. They
were then given a second and final dose of PMPA 24 hours later. All
four untreated control animals were persistently SIV-positive
within two weeks after virus inoculation. In contrast, no virus
could be detected in the four animals that received two doses of
PMPA; these animals were seronegative and healthy at 10 months.
Thus, two doses of PMPA prevented SIV infection in newborn
macaques.

The research indicates that short-term administration of PMPA to
HIV-infected pregnant women at the onset of labor and to their
newborns after delivery could reduce the rate of intrapartum HIV
transmission. Although HIV transmission from an infected mother to
her infant can occur early in utero and post-natally through
breastfeeding, many infants become infected around the time of
birth, possibly by an oral route of infection. Thus, the narrow
time window encompassing birth is an excellent target for
affordable intervention strategies, according to the researchers.

"Results of this study strongly suggest the potential of short-term
PMPA administration to reduce intrapartum HIV transmission," Van
Rompay and his colleagues state. "The success in preventing SIV
infection with only two doses of an antiviral drug is
unprecedented."

Van Rompay, K.K., C.J. Berardi, N.L. Aguirre, N. Bischofberger,
P.S. Lietman, N.C. Pedersen, and M.L. Marthas. 1998. Two doses of
PMPA protect newborn macaques against oral simian
immunodeficiency virus infection. AIDS (Jun) 18;12(9):F79-F83. 



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Primate-Science Research Highlights appears every other week and focuses
broadly on research involving non-human primates. Coverage includes
biomedicine, behavior, conservation and veterinary science. Please
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supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health,
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