Hundreds of scientists worldwide work to find a cure for one of the world’s fastest growing epidemics, AIDS, but two Syracuse University professors are bringing the cause very close to home.

Dr. Bruce Hudson and Dr. Philip Borer, both professors of biochemistry, are currently working on finding chemicals that prevent the formation of the HIV-1 virus, which ultimately causes AIDS.

AIDS drugs work by targeting the virus at certain stages in its life cycle. AIDS, though, evolves rapidly and can become resistant to drugs quickly within a patient’s lifetime.

It is estimated that within one year from now, 40 percent of all new infections will be drug-resistant, Hudson said.

‘That’s really scary,’ Hudson said. ‘The drugs being used now are good in that patients don’t have symptoms for quite a while, but that isn’t going to last.’

Hudson and Borer’s research targets HIV in its beginning stages. By preventing the virus from bonding chemically to RNA – a part of cells that relays genetic information for reproduction that is especially susceptible to attack by viruses – HIV would be unable to pass on its genes. The project’s goal is to find a way to achieve this effect.

‘If we could find a small molecule that binds to the NCp7 in the right place, we might be able to inhibit this step and the virus might not grow,’ Hudson said. ‘We might be able to use the fluorescence to screen for such molecules.’

Borer added: ‘I remember talking about it several years ago at a party. It was one of those ‘a-ha!’ moments.’

Hudson is an expert in the field of fluorescence, and his knowledge helps the project by tracking the strength of the bonds formed between the protein and various chemicals. The stronger the bond, the more likely the chemical will prevent the protein from connecting with the RNA, Hudson said.

The project is funded through a National Institute of Health grant, accumulating about $850,000 over the course of two and a half years. Through the grant, a small company called OrthoSystems was founded and contracted by SU to help perform some of the research.

Currently, the project focuses on making changes to the protein itself.

If Borer and Hudson can find certain chemicals that bond to the protein and prevent the virus’ growth, they will be a part of the development of a new category of HIV drugs.

‘We’ll look at 100,000 chemicals and find 50 or 100 candidates to be developed by pharmaceutical companies,’ Borer said.

Hudson and Borer work with the help of several graduate and undergraduate students. Borer said the four students centrally involved are Wei Ouyang, Michael Shubsda, Mark McPike and Stephen Okaine.

Okaine, a senior biochemistry major, has been doing research in Borer’s lab for 18 months, devoting about 20 hours each week to the project. He works specifically on studying alterations to the protein, and whether or not there are any changes in how it binds to the RNA.

The development of HIV and AIDS treatments is of special interest to Okaine, a native of Ghana, West Africa. Okaine realized he had a general passion in research during his sophomore year, and began working in Borer’s lab that summer.

‘This has been my most significant achievement in college – to be exposed to research in my early years. This is one thing that’s great about SU, having the opportunity to do this,’ Okaine said. ‘I relish every group meeting that we have and getting guidance from Dr. Borer.’

Borer and Hudson’s team has found several potentially effective chemicals. According to Okaine, they will purify and retest the proteins to develop a second set of data before drawing any conclusions. If and when suitable chemicals are found, the results will be sent to pharmaceutical companies for development into medications.

Hudson is enthusiastic that the two biochemists can have a major influence on an area of medical science that has previously been explored only by other sciences.

‘It’s the application of physical chemistry in an area that should be of more concern,’ he said.

Borer and Hudson are confident that their research will lay the chemical foundation needed to find better treatments for AIDS.

‘We’ll lead pharmaceutical companies more quickly to new drugs,’ said Borer.

Published on September 26, 2004 at 12:00 pm