RENO, Nev. The decade-long research that University of Nevada, Reno College of Science Chemistry Professor Thomas Bell has invested in the development of an extremely effective HIV/AIDS-fighting compound received an important boost recently when one of Bell's articles made the list of the 100 most influential publications in the HIV/AIDS research field for 2006.
Out of more than 10,000 HIV/AIDS research publications in the world, Bell's article in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry was ranked at No. 90 an amazing feat given that the keywords "HIV" or "AIDS" are not even in the article's title.
"You'd think it would have a fairly small readership, but to have this article be one of the top 100 most influential articles published in 2006 in the entire field of HIV/AIDS research, is pretty impressive," said Bell, noting that the ranking is from AIDS and HIV research portal, www.aidshivresearch.com
"We were No. 90 out of more than 10,000, so that's better than the 99th percentile." Other researchers from throughout the world have flocked to the article because of the implications of Bell's work.
Since Bell's development of the activities of the so-called "CADA" (Cyclotriazadisulfonamide) compound more than a decade ago, researchers have increasingly recognized that CADA could represent the next generation in HIV/AIDS drugs.
CADA has been shown to inhibit replication of HIV by eliminating the "door handle" by which receptor molecules on the surface of a white blood cell normally would grab HIV, allowing the virus to enter and infect the cell.
"There's no other drug like it," Bell said. "If you look at the cell before and after it has been treated with the drug, you see something truly remarkable. Before being treated with the drug, you can count the number of CD4 (surface receptor molecules for HIV) on the surface of the cell. If you treat the cell with the drug for a half a day, or a day, then the CD4 is almost gone. It's a completely
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Contact: John Trent
jtrent@unr.edu
775-784-4959
University of Nevada, Reno
8-Mar-2007