GSK, Guinea Worm, African Horse Sickness and HIV Budding

Globorix: GSK - good pharma or bad pharma? Europe’s largest drugs company, GSK, is starting the registration process for a vaccine from which it never expects to make money. So GSK is the good guy, saving the planet, right? Or is it after entry to new markets in which it has not been able to make much headway previously? Is Globorix a loss leader? How would I feel if I was a GSK shareholder (I’m not) - it’s not a charity - what about my investment/pension fund? GSK: Good pharma or bad pharma? Discuss.

Dracunculiasis eradication close? The WHO says that a parasitic disease which has plagued people since ancient times could be eradicated in less than two years. Guinea worm disease, or dracunculiasis, now affects around 25,000 people in nine countries, compared with an estimated 3 million people were infected in over 20 countries in the early 1980s. Twelve countries were declared Guinea worm-free in early March. If progress continues at this rate, the disease could be eradicated in less than two years. GWD is endemic in some villages of sub-Saharan Africa. The worm is spread through contaminated water. The effects of the disease are crippling. Its victims develop large ulcers, usually in the lower leg. The ulcers swell, at times to the size of a tennis ball, and burst, releasing a spaghetti-like parasitic worm ranging in length from 500-800 cm. Victims experience a pain so excruciating that they say it feels as if their leg is on fire. The searing pain compels people to jump into water, often the community’s only source of drinking water, to relieve the pain. When the infected person immerses his or her leg in the water, the worm in the leg releases thousands of larvae. The larvae are then ingested by water fleas that live in the water. Thus the cycle begins again - when people drink the water, they are in effect drinking in the disease. Update: Guinea Worm Disease Video

British horses at risk from deadly virus A deadly virus that kills horses may be poised to arrive in Britain as a result of climate change. African Horse Sickness, which is spread by Culicoides midges, can kill 90% of horses which catch it. The disease causes bleeding, breathing difficulties, colic and death within four hours of catching the virus.

HIV buds from the plasma membrane of macrophages Macrophages are one of the major target cells for HIV-1 infection and play an important role in viral pathogenesis. Previous studies indicated that the pathway of HIV-1 particle formation is distinct in primary human macrophages, and this has been suggested to play a role in viral persistence. Early reports indicated that HIV-1 accumulates within apparently intracellular vacuolar structures, which were later identified as being of endosomal origin. Endosomes were therefore suggested to comprise the budding and storage compartment for HIV-1 in macrophages, from which infectious virus could be released in a regulated manner. This new study shows that HIV-1 budding also occurs predominantly at the plasma membrane in macrophages. Using electron microscopy, the authors observed that the cell surface of macrophages displays an unexpectedly complex morphology with many protrusions and deep invaginations. HIV-1 budding occurs primarily at these invaginations that are clearly connected to the cell surface and do not belong to the endocytic compartment. Mature virus particles can remain trapped within such invaginations giving the appearance of an intracellular budding compartment. New labelling techniques and the composition of cellular marker proteins incorporated into HIV-1 supported a plasma membrane–derived origin of the viral envelope. Contrary to current opinion, the plasma membrane is the primary site of HIV-1 budding also in infected macrophages. HIV-1 Buds Predominantly at the Plasma Membrane of Primary Human Macrophages. 2007 PLoS Pathogens 3, e36

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