The officially supported theory of AIDS as an illness caused
by a continually mutating retrovirus called HIV has not led
to progress in controlling the epidemic in over two decades.
We are still looking for a vaccine but chances are it will
never be found. We are still treating those reacting
positively to a non-virus-specific test with toxic
medications, but the results are less than brilliant.
The existence of long-term AIDS survivors is unexplained and
unexplainable, unless we look for alternative explanations
of what might cause the immune weakness observed in AIDS
patients. Since the virus has never been properly isolated
and since the so-called HIV test does not prove infection,
it follows that something else must be wrong with those
unfortunate people who have a compromised immune system.
In the following article titled Vaccines, Antibodies and the
HIV Riddle, Beldeu Singh introduces a hypothesis of
oxidative causation of immune weakness. The new hypothesis
overcomes problems associated with proving viral causation
of the syndrome but it also opens a door to specific
treatments that could rapidly reverse the epidemic.
VACCINES, ANTIBODIES AND
THE HIV RIDDLE
by Beldeu Singh
The human immune system is a complex and amazing array of
response mechanisms to foreign bodies called antigens
designed to attack and destroy them and prevent infection
and disease condition.
The system is remarkably effective to antigens. An antigen
is any substance that elicits an immune response, including
a virus and parts of broken protein molecules. Non-living
substances such as toxins, chemicals and drugs can be
antigens.
Acquired Immunity
The effectiveness of the immune system is based on four very
important aspects of its design and operation - firstly, its
role in self/non-self recognition; secondly, it ability to
produce a wide range of antibodies but each antibody is a
specific response to an invading antigen, so it is in fact a
polyclonal system that develops monoclonal responses;
thirdly, its antibodies bind to specific antigens not only
at the initial site of invasion or infection but work in all
the fluid part of the body and fourthly, the bodies can stay
on after overcoming the infection for months or years and in
the case of viral infections they offer live long immunity.
Most invasions by microorganisms do not result in disease.
The few microbes that manage to cross the barriers of skin,
mucus, cilia, and pH are usually eliminated by the natural
or innate immune mechanisms that are triggerred immediately
upon pathogen entry. If the pathogen cannot be rapidly
eliminated by phagocytosis, inflammation is induced with the
synthesis of cytokines and acute phase proteins. This early
induced response is not antigen-specific and does not
generate immune memory. Only if the inflammatory process is
unsuccessful at eliminating pathogen will the adaptive
immune system be activated - as in the case of catching a
cold and process will require several days to produce armed
effector cells.
Parts of the immune system are antigen-specific and have
memory. The cells recognize and mount an even stronger
attack to the same antigen the next time. The self/non-self
recognition is on account of having every cell display a
marker based on the major
histocompatibility complex (MHC). Any cell not displaying
this marker is treated as non-self and attacked. The process
is so effective that undigested proteins in the bloodstream
are treated as antigens.
Active artificially acquired immunity refers to any
immunization with an antigen. By giving a safe form of the
antigen artificially, the body will produce its own
antibodies and, more importantly, develop circulating,
long-lived B-memory cells with high affinity B-cell
receptors on their surface. If at a later date the body is
again exposed to that same antigen, the memory cells will
cause immediate and rapid production of the appropriate
antibodies for protection.
The immune system is a system of specialized cells and
organs that protect an organism from invasion and infection
from bacteria, viruses and it also destroys cancer cells and
foreign bodies and even elicits an immune response to broken
protein molecules or those protein molecules that may be
broken during the process of ingestion by macrophages and
may float in the bloodstream as macrophage debris.
The organs of the immune system, positioned throughout the
body, are called lymphoid organs. The lymphoid tissue is
distributed in many other locations as small pockets
throughout the body, such as the bone marrow and thymus. The
tonsils, adenoids, Peyer's patches, and the appendix are
also lymphoid tissues.
Antigens and Antibodies
An important organ of the immune system is the spleen. In it
are found B cells, T cells, macrophages, dendritic cells,
natural killer cells and red blood cells. In addition to
capturing foreign bodies (antigens) from the blood passing
through it, migratory macrophages and dendritic cells bring
antigens to the spleen via the bloodstream. An immune
response can be initiated in the spleen when any macrophage
or dendritic cells present the antigen to the appropriate B
or T cells. The B cells become activated and respond with
the production of large amounts of antibody specific to the
antigen. The spleen can be visualized as an immunologic
filter of the blood.
A healthy immune system, functioning at its optimal levels
keeps the body in a healthy state. If the immune system
weakens, its ability to defend the body also weakens,
allowing pathogens, including viruses that cause common
colds and flu, to grow and flourish in the body. The immune
system also performs continual surveillance for abnormal or
cancer cells. Any form of prolonged immune suppression
compromises the healthy functioning of the immune system and
allows opportunistic infections, including TB, pneumonia and
cancers to occur in the body. Immunosuppression has been
reported to increase the risk of certain types of cancer.
The immune system can be made to elicit an immune response
artificially. Active artificially acquired immunity refers
to any immunization with an antigen. By giving a safe form
of the antigen artificially, the body will produce
antibodies. Viral vaccines such as for smallpox can cause
the immune system to develop circulating, long-lived
B-memory cells. If at a later date the body is again exposed
to that same antigen, the memory cells will cause immediate
and rapid production of the appropriate antibodies for
protection.
Most vaccine-preventable diseases are caused by viruses.
Vaccines to help prevent these diseases generally contain
weakened or killed viruses specific to the disease. There
are a series of steps that the body goes through in fighting
these diseases: First, a vaccine is given by a shot. Next,
over the next few weeks the body makes antibodies and memory
cells against the weakened or dead viruses in the vaccine.
Then, the antibodies can fight the real disease-causing
viruses in the person.The antibodies destroy the viruses and
the person will not become ill. We learned that in school.
We also learned in school that an antibody is a protein
produced by the immune system, in response to invading or
foreign bodies introduced into the body, to identify and
neutralize these foreign bodies such as bacteria and
viruses. Each antibody recognizes a specific antigen unique
to its target.
Antibodies are synthesized and secreted by plasma cells
which are derived from the B cells of the immune system. The
B cells are activated upon binding to their specific antigen
and differentiate into plasma cells that will produce the
immunoglobulins (which are glycoproteins in the
immunoglobulin superfamily) that function as antibodies.
Antibodies are therefore produced in clonal lines that are
specific to only one antigen, e.g., a virus hull protein. In
binding to such antigens, they can cause agglutination and
precipitation of antibody-antigen products ready for
phagocytosis by macrophages and other cells or block viral
receptors and stimulate other immune responses such as the
complement pathway.
Antibodies that bind onto the docking sites of viruses block
their docking ability to receptor sites on cell membranes.
Being unable to dock to a cell, they cannot infect it.
Antibodies can also agglutinate them so the phagocytes can
capture them. Antibodies that recognize bacteria mark them
for ingestion by macrophages. Activated macrophages are also
capable of directly destroying tumor cells. Together with
the plasma component complement, antibodies can kill
bacteria directly. Antibodies also neutralize toxins by
binding with them.
Antibodies are found in the blood and tissue fluids. In some
cases they may be aided by T-helper cells to fight foreign
bodies. They cannot attack pathogens within cells. Certain
viruses "hide" inside cells (as part of the lysogenic cycle)
for long periods of time and avoid the binding action of
antibodies. The chronic nature of many minor skin diseases
(such as cold sores) is due to this "hiding" mechanism. Any
further outbreak is quickly suppressed by the immune system,
but the infection is never truly eradicated in such cases
because some cells retain viruses that may resume their
replicating activity later on.
Antibodies and memory cells stay on guard in the body for
years after the vaccination to safeguard it from the real
disease germs. This protection is called immunity.
In the case of all bacterial vaccines, immunity doesn't last
long and thus the vaccine needs frequent repetition to be
effective, which means you are exposed to the risk again and
again, unlike viral vaccines which provide years, probably a
lifetime, of immunity.
Cancer Immunotherapy
Humans and mammals, including dogs, cats and mice have the
ability to make antibodies that 'recognize' virtually any
antigenic determinant (epitope) and bind to it.
Additionally, antibodies are so specific that they
discriminate between even similar epitopes. These two
characteristics provide the basis for protection against
disease organisms and make antibodies attractive candidates
to target other types of molecules found in the body, such
as: receptors or other proteins present on the surface of
normal cells molecules or that may be present uniquely on
the surface of cancer cells.
Monoclonal antibodies can be produced in a laboratory.
Monoclonal antibodies are made by injecting human cancer
cells, or proteins from cancer cells, into mice so that
their immune systems develop antibodies against the injected
foreign antigens (bodies). These new antibodies will bind to
specific proteins on the surface of certain cells and T4
cells can identify them easily and attack them. Once bound,
the cancer cells are marked for destruction by macrophages
and the binding action activates the immune system to attack
and kill the cells to which the monoclonal antibody is
bound. It is an interesting approach in immunotherapy.
There are clearly identified processes in immunotherapy that
destroy cancer cells. In one process, macrophages and
natural killer cells engulf the bound tumor cell.
Macrophages destroy cancer cells by ingestion using enzymes
while natural killer cells secrete cytokines that lead to
cell death. In the second process, when the "complement
system" is initiated, also known as the 'complement
cascade', the attack is confined to the cell membrane of the
cancer cell resulting in a hole within the cell membrane,
causing cell lysis and death of the cancer cell. Natural
killer cells have a smart mechanism to kill infected cells.
They insert the pore-forming molecule perforin into the
membrane and then inject cytotoxic granzymes to kill the
targeted cell.
Before they can engulf pathogens, phagocytes must first bind
them. Pathogen surfaces generally have sugar molecules in
repeating patterns (orientation and spacing) not found on
host cells that can be recognized by cells of the innate
immune system. Once the antigen is bound, the phagocyte
extends pseudopodia around the antigen and engulfs it,
forming a phagocytic vesicle (phagosome). Cytosolic vesicles
called lysosomes containing digestive enzymes at low pH fuse
with the phagosomes to become phagolysosomes, whose enzymes
digest the antigen. This process is called phagocytosis.
Some bacteria are resistant to hydrolytic enzymes and low pH
and can escape from or even live in the phagolysosome.
Pathogens are generally completely digested by neutrophils.
Natural killer (NK) cells function as effector cells that
directly kill certain tumors such as melanomas, lymphomas
and viral-infected cells, most notably herpes and
cytomegalovirus-infected cells. Natural killer cells, unlike
the CD8+ (killer) T cells, kill their targets directly
without a prior "conference" in the lymphoid organs.
However, NK cells that have been activated by secretions
from CD4+ T cells will kill their tumor or viral-infected
targets more effectively.
Natural killer cells are specialized cells that kill both
cancer cells and cells that are harboring viruses. Their
numbers increase with exercise, and supplementation with
DHEA, thymus extract, vitamin E, selenium, beta-carotene,
glutamine, and arabinogalactan. Their numbers fall with
malnutrition, stress, alcoholism, inadequate sleep, and in
people with chronic fatigue syndrome and other illnesses,
drug abuse and in heavy smokers.
In addition to their hydrolytic enzymes, phagocytes use two
oxygen-dependent killing systems (oxidative burst) to kill
microorganisms by oxidizing and inactivating key enzymes.
Macrophages depend primarily on the peroxidase-independent
system, using hydroxyl radicals (OH-), superoxide anions
(O2-), singlet oxygen (O-) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2).
Neutrophil myeloperoxidase interacts with H2O2 plus
intracellular halides to form toxic oxidants such as OCl-.
Activated macrophages also kill pathogens with nitric oxide
(NO), defensin peptides, lysozyme, and secreted molecules
that compete with the microbes for essential nutrients such
as iron and the enzyme cofactor vitamin B12. Toxic products
of macrophages and neutrophils can be used inside the
phagolysosome to kill the pathogen or, when the pathogen
cannot be engulfed, can be excreted for extracellular
killing. The latter process often results in damage to
surrounding host cells as well as to the pathogen.
Nitric oxide (NO) has broad-spectrum antimicrobial
properties and is also synthesised by the endothelium of the
major blood vessels. Endothelial health and secretions of NO
in proper amounts is a science that will gain prominence in
developing future therapies and will become a vital concept
in health. It is an ubiqutious molecule in mammalian
biochemistry and is involved in the development of disease
states.
Cancer cells may spread into the central nervous system,
testicles or other organs not easily reached with
chemotherapy. These areas are often referred to as sanctuary
sites. Since many drugs are unable to penetrate into these
areas and destroy the cancer cells, immunotherapy may be
applied as an alternative.
Cytotoxic T cells (CTL) mediate antigen-specific, MHC-restricted
cytotoxicity and are important for killing intra-cytoplasmic
parasites that are not accessible to secreted antibody or to
phagocytes. Examples include all viruses, rickettsias, some
obligate intracellular bacteria (Chlamydia) and some
protozoan parasites. The only way to eliminate these
pathogens is to kill their host cells. Activated T cells
perform their effector functions when they encounter MHC-presented
peptide on their target cells. Cytotoxic T cells activated
by endogenous antigen, identify and kill the infected cells
while helper T cells are activated by exogenous antigen to
stimulate macrophage killing of endosomal pathogens.
Vaccination and Autoimmune Disease
The remarkable specificity of antibodies makes them
interesting for study in medical science. The response of
the immune system to any antigen, even the simplest, is
polyclonal, which means, the immune system produces
antibodies of a great range of structures both in their
binding regions as well as in their effector regions. Hence,
the interest in vaccines.
Vaccines have been useful in preventing viral diseases such
as smallpox but vaccines pose challenges of their own. There
is some evidence to suggest to even the most ardent vaccine
supporter that there are risks to vaccination. The only
thing that does immunize (i.e. enable the body to protect
itself from harm by foreign organisms) is Mother Nature,
provided she is properly supported with sufficient basic
nutrition, and her sophisticated immune development process
not interfered with (Vaccination Information Service;).
The term "immunisation", often substituted for vaccination,
is false and should be legally challenged, because the
direct injection of foreign proteins and other toxic
material (particularly known immune-sensitising poisons such
as mercury) sensitises, meaning makes the recipient more,
not less, easily affected by what he/she encounters in the
future. This means they do the OPPOSITE of immunise,
commonly even preventing immunity from developing after
natural exposure. (Vaccination Information Service;).
According to leading canine vaccine researcher Dr. Ronald
Schultz, Chair of the Department of Pathobiology at the
University of Wisconsin - Madison School of Veterinary
Medicine, and editor of the textbook Veterinary Vaccines
and Diagnostics, It is becoming increasingly more
evident that it is no longer true to say, 'Well, even if the
vaccine doesn't help, it won't hurt.'
A few years ago, the Colorado State University School of
Veterinary Medicine became the first veterinary college to
issue a vaccination schedule that recommended against annual
vaccinations. Of particular note in this regard has been the
association of autoimmune hemolytic anemia with vaccination
in dogs and vaccine-associated sarcomas in cats ... both of
which are often fatal (cf Re-Vaccination: Vaccination for
Previously Vaccinated Dogs and Older Puppies By Christie
Keith)".
In cats, there is an alarming incidence of injection site
sarcomas, an aggressive and often fatal cancer. In dogs,
there is a correlation between autoimmune hemolytic anemia
and vaccination (Dodds, 1985; Duval and Giger, 1996), and an
ongoing study at Purdue University has found that vaccinated
dogs, but not unvaccinated controls, have formed antibodies
to their own cells (Larry T. Glickman, DVM, "Weighing the
Risks and Benefits of Vaccination," Advances in
Veterinary Medicine, Vol. 41, 2001). Immunocompromised
dogs vaccinated for canine distemper have been reported to
develop post-vaccinal encephalitis (Meyer, "Vaccine
Associated Adverse Events," Veterinary Clinics of
North America, May 2001). Dogs with inhalant allergies
are known to worsen after vaccination (Frick and Brooks,
1983; cf Re-Vaccination: Vaccination for Previously
Vaccinated Dogs and Older Puppies By Christie Keith).
So, the problems that can be caused by vaccinations are
autoimmune disease conditions and vaccine associated
sarcomas. It is important to note the research that points
to the fact that the direct injection of foreign proteins
and other toxic material (particularly known immune-sensitising
poisons such as mercury) makes the recipient more, not less,
easily affected by what he/she encounters in the future.
This means they do the OPPOSITE of immunise, commonly even
preventing immunity from developing after natural exposure.
Since vaccines use thimerosal, a compound containing organic
mercury, subsequent vaccinations (especially a large number
of mandated vaccinations within the first two years) cause
problems not only from the free radical generating toxicity
of the mercury ion (that accumulates in the tissues) but
many may also suffer from its immune sensitizing effect.
Thimerosal in vaccines may interfere with NO secretions by
cells and in tissues and cause the wide range of problems in
health.
But antibodies continue to interest scientists and in their
possible role in preventing developmental defects in
fetuses. Cytomegalovirus, or CMV, spreads through sex and
body fluids like saliva. It often infects children and their
caregivers and is the most common infection among U.S.
newborns, striking about one per cent, or 40,000 babies each
year. It infects most people at some point, typically with
mild symptoms or none at all. But it can harm or kill
fetuses and is especially dangerous when women acquire it
during pregnancy.
Up to 20 per cent of infected fetuses die before or soon
after birth, or have severe damage, including small heads,
abnormal brains, mental retardation, and liver and hearing
damage. Others develop learning disabilities by school age.
Italian doctors, in a study, injected highly concentrated
antibodies of CMV into 31 women who became infected with the
virus during pregnancy and whose fetuses were known to be
infected as well. Only three per cent had babies with CMV
damage, compared with half of the 14 women who refused the
treatment. A second group of 37 women whose babies were
suspected of being infected also received the treatment.
Sixteen per cent had babies with CMV damage, versus 40 per
cent of women in a comparison group who didn't get the
treatment. The results were published in the New England
Journal of Medicine by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth
University .
Experts said it is nearly impossible to tell what helped the
babies because the women got different numbers and doses of
antibody treatments and by different methods and the most
interesting question is how physical damage to fetuses from
the infection, clearly documented in some by ultrasound,
could be reversed by the antibody treatment, given that the
mothers' own CMV antibodies don't protect fetuses from
infection.
The answer may lie in the fact that physical damage to
fetuses is caused by developmental defects and these are in
turn produced by interference by excess free radicals or
excess nitric oxide secreted in the mother. They are very
small compared to most molecules and pass the placental
barrier to cause problems in fetal development which is
primarily an environment of rapidly dividing cells. Excess
free radicals and excess nitric oxide due to endothelial
dysfunction, on account of oxidative stress on it, may be
produced in mothers who smoke or consume alcohol or in those
who may have taken immuno-toxic medication during pregnancy.
Since its discovery in 1980 as a potent vascular smooth
muscle relaxant and regulator of blood pressure, NO has been
found in many cell types and implicated in a variety of
biological roles. Indeed, NO is involved in the health and
disease of all organs and systems, including in the immnune
system and disease prevention. Nitric oxide is an important
bioregulator of a wide variety of physiological processes
and its excess or deficiency can cause developmental defects
in fetuses and infants.
Many viral toxins may exert a similar effect in excess and
the administration of antibodies to viruses in pregnant
mothers helps to reduce, diminish or eliminate their stress
on developing tissues and dividing cells as the antibodies
bind with the viral toxins and neutralize them. This also
explains the variable results in different mothers. The
mothers' immune system maintains a form of integrity in the
sense that it responds effectively to the invasion and
threat to its own body and produces adequate amounts of
antibodies for its own well being. The mothers' body cannot
respond to the antibody requirements in the body of the
fetus and assess the additional amounts that may be required
to prevent the developmental defects in the fetus.
Dr Gallo 'finds' the Virus
Antibodies and viruses have that interesting connection
which has a bearing on AIDS. Dr. Gallo began to put forth
his claims that he had discovered a virus (called the HIV)
that he claimed was causing AIDS. Despite the fact that
those efforts in isolating viruses and replicating them do
not meet the accepted gold standard and no scientist has
proved that such a virus actually infects and replicates in
cells of the immune system, there are scientists in
institutes who claim that "after entering the body, the
virus rapidly disseminates, proceeding to the lymph nodes
and related organs where it replicates and accumulates in
large quantities. Paradoxically, the filtering system in
these lymphoid organs, so effective at trapping pathogens
and initiating an immune response, actually helps destroy
the immune system. As healthy CD4+ T cells travel to the
lymph organs in response to HIV infection, they are infected
by the HIV that is harbored there."
Gallo managed at the same time to file together with his
employer, the National Institutes of Health, for a lucrative
AIDS test patent. However, subsequent nucleic acid sequence
analyses proved Gallo's virus from 1984 to be the same as
the virus discovered by Luc Montagnier in 1983. Since
Montagnier had sent his virus to Gallo in 1983, it appeared
that Gallo had rediscovered Montagnier's virus. In addition,
a legal investigation proved that the photograph of HIV in
Gallo's first AIDS papers was that of Montagnier's virus
"inadvertently" used "largely for illustrative purposes" (p.
210-11)(On Virus Hunting; review by Peter Duesberg).
The story started in 1975. "By 1975 his [Gallo's] lab had
finally isolated a retrovirus from human leukemia cells.
[HL23V] Gallo... faced humilation when he presented the
finding at the Virus-Cancer program's yearly conference.
Other scientists had tested his virus and discovered it to
be a mixture of contaminating retroviruses from woolly
monkeys, gibbon apes and baboons. Gallo tried to save his
reputation, speculating wildly that perhaps one of the
monkey viruses caused the human leukemia. In 1980 Gallo was
finally credited for discovering a genuine human retrovirus,
HTLV-I, which he blamed for a leukemia in blacks from the
Caribbean. But he ran into trouble trying to find the virus
in American leukemia patients. At the same time, a Japanese
research team reported isolating a human retrovirus from
leukemic patients, which they named ATLV. After they
courteously sent Gallo a sample of the virus to compare with
his own, Gallo published the genetic sequence of HTLV-I. The
sequence of Gallo's Caribbean virus proved to be nearly
identical to the Japanese virus; it contained a mistake
identical to the one made by the Japanese group. Since all
other non-Japanese HTLV-I isolates differed much more widely
from the Gallo-Japanese twins, some retrovirologists suggest
Gallo may have offered the Japanese sequence as his own. No
formal investigation has probed this incident, and Gallo was
awarded the prestigious Lasker Prize as the presumed
discoverer of the leukemia virus." (Inventing the AIDS
Virus, p.160).
"Gallo did not stop with his first human retrovirus. He
isolated a second one in 1982, from a cell line derived from
a patient ... But since that time HTLV-II has been retrieved
from only one other patient with a similar leukemia, while
plenty of cases have been found without the virus. (p.127)
... William Haseltine ... had copied the genetic sequence of
HTLV-II, the second known human retrovirus, from a
presentation at a science conference. He then published the
sequence, unknowingly including a deliberate error planted
by the Japanese research team who had actually done the
work." (Inventing the AIDS Virus p.164). In 1984 Dr Gallo,
presented the world HTLV-III, which was renamed HIV later,
and which became known as 'the AIDS virus'.
A fundamental knowledge was necessary to be shown as the
established science from the days of Pasteur and the first
vaccine against the "work" of Dr. Gallo and the patents that
he lodged to protect his test kit.
In 1982, Robert Gallo from the National Cancer Institute in
the USA, put forward the hypothesis that the cause of AIDS
is a retrovirus. One year later, Myron Essex and his
colleagues found that AIDS patients had antibodies to the
Human T-cell Leukemia virus Type-1 (HTLV-I), a virus
discovered by Gallo a few years earlier. At the same time,
Gallo and his colleagues reported the isolation of HTLV-I
from AIDS patients and advocated a role for this retrovirus
in the pathogenesis of AIDS (Emergency Medicine
1993;5:5-147: HAS GALLO PROVEN THE ROLE OF HIV IN AIDS?,
Eleni Papadopulos-Eleopulos, Valendar F. Turner, John M.
Papadimitriou). But there is no explanation why not all or a
statistically significant number of AIDS patients get
leukemia which is a natural expectation but instead get a
host of opportunistic infections including pneumonia and
sarcomas.
The most difficult aspect of the HIV postulate is to
have first decided that their HIV virus is an aggressive
pathogen which they claim to target the immune system
itself, as HIV was said to infect the key CD4+ T cells that
regulate the immune response, modifying or destroying their
ability to function and to reconcile this 'science' with
scientific data and evidence that some people "appear better
able than others to resist progression of HIV infection or
developing AIDS," resulting in "long-term survivors" who can
be divided into three groups;-
1). Long-term nonprogressors who maintain healthy or steady
levels of CD4+ T cells despite many years of infection
2). Those tested HIV-positive individuals who lose a
significant proportion of CD4+ T cells but remain healthy,
and
3). The people who remain uninfected despite repeated
"exposure to HIV".
So, to save the HIV postulate for AIDS they also claim that,
once the virus infects CD4+ T cells, the virus' genetic
material is permanently integrated into the cell's
chromosomes, establishing permanent latency within infected
cells. After infection, the HIV incorporates its genetic
material into the host cell DNA. If a cell reproduces
itself, each new cell also contains the integrated HIV
genes. The virus can hide its genetic material for prolonged
periods until the cell is activated and makes new viruses.
So, its not an aggressive pathogen.
They also claim that other cells act as HIV reservoirs,
harboring intact viruses that may remain undetected by the
immune system while it "targets" the cells of the immune
system.
There is also no explaination on how an infected cell
remains normal and remains undetected as an abnormal cell by
NK cells or activated macrophages after the HIV incorporates
its genetic material into the chromosomes of the cell.
Such a virus, with such a capability, having a sophisticated
enzyme system to incorporate its genetic material into the
cells' chromosomes and activate it later on into replicating
itself cannot be so small and illusive that it avoids
isolation and replication by other virologists.
Virologist Dr Stefan Lanka states: "The rules
demonstrating the existence of HIV (and retroviruses in
general) were never adhered to by those who devised them nor
were they ever validated." A research team at University
of Western Australia claims that HIV has never been isolated
so far, and questions the existence of the virus-entity. So,
without a virus entity, how do you produce the test and
offer it for public use? Is this politics or science?
There are too many riddles to Dr. Gallo's virus. The
Japanese research team who had actually isolated viruses
from some leukemia patients including the deliberate error
planted by them proves a lot of science when taken together
with the fact that most leukemia patients do not have such a
virus. Large amounts of viral toxins could create oxidative
stress on cells in the bones in persons who have low blood
antioxidant levels or these viral toxins could bind
micronutrients in these cells thereby shutting down the
Krebs cycle and transforming them into cancer cells that
have switched to the alcohol energy system. The antibodies
produced could have destroyed the virus in the blood and
other fluids but not in the infected cells.
Selenium and Nitric Oxide
A similar stress on the Krebs cycle whether through viral
toxins or free radicals or a combination of both, suppresses
it and consequently cellular function and energy output are
lowered causing the chronic fatigue syndrome. Such a stress
is more acute or chronic in malnourished populations and
would naturally be observed more frequently in people with a
low intake of selenium. Selenium is essential for the
production of selenium based enzymes in the body. These
enzymes are very important for mitochondrial metabolic
activity and for the prevention of mDNA depletion.
Exogenous free radicals and free radical generating
chemicals and pollutants, including from chemicals in
cigarette smoke and very fine pollutants in exhaust fumes
can cause either an excess in the production of endogenous
NO or suppress its production. The body's natural balance in
the production of NO is perturbed. Too little production
diminishes NO required to scavenge ROS while excess NO is
known to cause cell and DNA damage and induction of cGMP. In
the cell, NO is capable of inducing iron depletion from iron
stores, which in turn is correlated with the activation of
guanylate cyclase and inhibition of mitochondrial
respiration. NO has a great affnity for iron and binds
readily with iron-containing proteins such as hemoglobin,
myoglobin, cytochrome c, and guanylyl cyclase. NO interacts
with oxyhemoglobin to form methemoglobin and nitrate.
In excess, NO can inactivate mitochondrial electron
transport and ATPase. The role of oxygen reactive species in
the depletion of NO and the role of NO in iron biochemistry
which in turn is critical in blood cell formation in bones
may provide the critical clue and link in the formation of
the leukemia cell under oxidative stress coupled with
imbalances in NO secretions in the body.
Chronic depletion of vitamin C in immune system cells
also weakens the immune system, particularly the macrophages
and the NK cells that secrete nitric oxide to destroy
pathogens and cancer cells. Excess nitric oxide acts as a
free radical and destroys the biochemical processes in
bacteria and cancer cells but the large stores of vitamin C
in these cells protect them from their own excess secretions
that are in letal doses to cancer cells or invading
bacteria. Hence, ingestion of large amounts of bioavailable
vitamins and minerals from fruit juices and selenium intake
would amount to a logical measure to boost the natural
antioxidant defense biochemistry as well as to boost the
health and optimal functioning of the immune system and in
the prevention of opportunistic infections. This is
consistent with the finding that the NK cell numbers fall
with malnutrition, stress, exercise, alcoholism, inadequate
sleep, and in people with chronic fatigue syndrome and other
illnesses (Immune Response;). Immunotoxic medication in
persons with large amounts of viral toxins and/or free
radicals is a logical recipe to prevent recovery or hasten
death or diminish the quality of life.
If there is no virus that has been isolated and purified
according to accepted standards, what does the HIV test do?
The proteins that are used in the 'HIV' test are merely the
biological outcome of stressed white blood cells used in the
lab and in 'Bio/Technology', June 1993, 'Aids' analyst, Dr
Eleni Eleopulos exposed the non-specificity and
unreliability of the 'HIV' 'antibody test'.
The disclaimer on the packaging says it is not absolute
proof that a person tested positive has the virus that
causes AIDS.
AIDS is acquired deficiency syndrome that can be acquired
through prolonged malnutrion or prolonged use of
immunosuppressants. It appears to fit more neatly into the
free radical theory of AIDS or the oxidative stress theory
of AIDS, incuding its progression in the individual and its
"spread" in populations. Since there is a serious doubt
about a specific virus that targets the cells of the immune
system, when a person tests positive, it may be positive for
an antibody to a broken protein that is found floating as
macrophage debris, not yet filtered off in the spleen.
Such protein particles may be more commonly found in people
recovering from another viral attack such as flu or cold and
in people recovering from parasitic infections such as
malaria.
Other conditions common in underprivileged and impoverished
communities that are known to cause false positive results
are tuberculosis, malaria, hepatitis, and leprosy.
False-positive ELISA [antibody] test results can be caused
by alloantibodies resulting from transfusions,
transplantation, or pregnancy, autoimmune disorders,
malignancies and alcoholic liver disease.
This can be interpreted as a positive reaction to antibodies
that the body may produce in other diseases or against other
bodies that the body's immune system may recognize as
foreign but the final analysis may just prove that it tests
positive for a range of broken proteins as a result of
macrophage ingestion found floating in the blood and in some
white blood cells. That explains why they cannot be isolated
and purified and used to reinfect other cells in which they
will replicate like all other viruses.
Then there is the need to explain the antibodies which is a
protective immunological response to HIV infection.
People with antibodies to HIV should have protection against
HIV disease, since vaccines protect by inducing the
production of antibodies. However, scientists found only
antibodies in HIV-positive patients, rather than the virus
itself. And having found the antibodies, the proponents of
the HIV postulate want the person with these antibodies to
take a toxic poison like AZT and other toxic retrovirals as
medication rather than declare that he is on the road to
recovery like someone who has antibodies to the common flu.
This compounds the HIV riddle. Any normal and healthy person
taking them will probably die in 18 months and there is no
record of anyone with complete recovery after taking them.
This riddle is tightly linked with the official requirement
to take AZT and retrovirals after you are tested positive
with antibodies which is supposed to say that you now have
an immune response and are therefore safe - and that makes
it bad. Yet, there are scientists at official institutes
working on government funds to develop the HIV vaccine! So,
when you test positive after being administered such a
vaccine and are found to test positive, off you go take
retrovirals and the AZT poison. Makes sense?
BELDEU SINGH
References:
Albrecht, E. W., C. A. Stegeman, et al. (2003).
"Protective role of endothelial nitric oxide synthase." J
Pathol 199(1): 8-17.
Nitric oxide is a versatile molecule, with its actions
ranging from haemodynamic regulation to anti-proliferative
effects on vascular smooth muscle cells. Nitric oxide is
produced by the nitric oxide synthases, endothelial NOS (eNOS),
neural NOS (nNOS), and inducible NOS (iNOS). Constitutively
expressed eNOS produces low concentrations of NO, which is
necessary for a good endothelial function and integrity.
Endothelial derived NO is often seen as a protective agent
in a variety of diseases.
Anderson, T. J. (2003). "Nitric oxide,
atherosclerosis and the clinical relevance of endothelial
dysfunction." Heart Fail Rev 8(1): 71-86.
The endothelium plays a key role in vascular homeostasis
through the release of a variety of autocrine and paracrine
substances, the best characterized being nitric oxide. A
healthy endothelium acts to prevent atherosclerosis
development and its complications through a complex and
favorable effect on vasomotion, platelet and leukocyte
adhesion and plaque stabilization. The assessment of
endothelial function in humans has generally involved the
description of vasomotor responses, but more widely includes
physiological, biochemical and genetic markers that
characterize the interaction of the endothelium with
platelets, leukocytes and the coagulation system. Stable
markers of inflammation such as high sensitivity C-reactive
protein are indirect and potentially useful measures of
endothelial function for example. Attenuation of the effect
of nitric oxide accounts for the majority of what is
described as endothelial dysfunction. This occurs in
response to atherosclerosis or its risk factors. Much
remains to be learned about the molecular and genetic
pathophysiological mechanisms of endothelial cell
abnormalities. However, pharmacological intervention with a
growing list of medications can favorably modify endothelial
function, paralleling beneficial effects on cardiovascular
morbidity and mortality. In addition, several small studies
have provided tantalizing evidence that measures of
endothelial health might provide prognostic information
about an individual patient's risk of subsequent events. As
such, the sum of this evidence makes the clinical assessment
of endothelial function an attractive surrogate marker of
atherosclerosis disease activity. The review will focus on
the role of nitric oxide in atherosclerosis and the clinical
relevance of these findings.
Ando, K. (2003). "[Oxidative stress]." Nippon Rinsho
61(7): 1130-7.
Oxidative stress, which is enhanced in diabetes mellitus,
causes hypertension and plays a critical role on
cardiovascular damages in diabetes and hypertension.
Angiotensin II is one of important intrinsic oxidants in
pathophysiology of hypertension. Reactive oxygen species
affect hypertension and its complications via inactivation
of nitric oxide, modification of lipid metabolism, and
enhanced insulin resistance. Moreover, oxidative stress and
hypertension accelerate cardiovascular damages. Thus, it is
important to control oxidative stress in hypertensive
patients with diabetes.
Annuk, M., M. Zilmer, et al. (2003).
"Endothelium-dependent vasodilation and oxidative stress in
chronic renal failure: impact on cardiovascular disease."
Kidney Int Suppl(84): S50-3.
Despite significant progress in renal replacement therapy,
the mortality from cardiovascular disease (CVD) in patients
with chronic renal failure (CRF) is many times higher than
in the general population. The traditional risk factors are
frequently present in CRF patients. However, based upon
conventional risk factor analysis, these factors do not
fully explain the extraordinary increase in morbidity and
mortality in CVD among patients with CRF. Accumulating
evidence suggests that CRF is associated with impaired
endothelial cell function. In recent years, the role of
endothelial dysfunction (ED) and excessive oxidative stress
(OS) in the development of CVD has been highlighted. ED is
an early feature of vascular disease in different diseases
such diabetes, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and
coronary heart disease. The precise mechanism which induces
ED is not clear. Several factors however, including
OS-related accumulation of uremic toxins, hypertension and
shear stress, dyslipidemia with cytotoxic lipoprotein
species such as small, dense low-density lipoprotein (LDL)
particles, competitive inhibition of endothelial nitric
oxide (NO) by increased production by asymmetrical
dimethylarginine (ADMA) are pathogenic. In addition, it is
known that excessive OS causes ED. An overproduction of
reactive oxygen species (ROS) may injure the endothelial
cell membrane, inactivate NO, and cause oxidation of an
essential cofactor of nitric oxide synthase (NOS). Recent
studies have demonstrated that an impaired
endothelium-dependent vasodilation and OS are closely
related to each other in patients with CRF.