Lets say they found a cure for herpes (a thought)

[Jonsie150]

So let's say they find a cure for herpes (let's not turn this thread into a what-are-the-chances thread, as it is besides the point).

My question is, how would they even know that a person is cured? With the testing we having now, we can only detect the herpes virus via the antibodies that are produced by our bodies. But lets say we eliminate the virus from our body, wouldnt the antibodies still be there? So our igg tests would still come back positive even if the cure worked (unless im wrong about this). How would they test to see if a person is free of the virus?

[IDTB]

Thanks for posting the link. Very interesting article. I've always read that one of the problems with viruses has always been that unlike bacterial infections which are easily sought out by a drug and destroyed without harming the cells of the host, a virus attaches itself and basically becomes an entwined part of the cell structure of the host and begins to replicate itself. Traditionally, the only way to kill a virus theoretically would have been to kill the cell structure in which the virus has become part of.

Here's part of the article for those interested in reading:

"When viruses infect a cell, they take over its cellular machinery for their own purpose — that is, creating more copies of the virus. During this process, the viruses create long strings of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA)..."

"As part of their natural defenses against viral infection, human cells have proteins that latch onto dsRNA, setting off a cascade of reactions that prevents the virus from replicating itself. However, many viruses can outsmart that system by blocking one of the steps further down the cascade."

The article describes the drug, DRACO can go in and search out 'only' the cells that are infected by the virus by detecting which cells have the dsRNA. Once the DRACO binds to dsRNA, it signals the other end of the DRACO to initiate 'cell suicide'.

Basically it signals the infected cells to kill themselves thereby preventing the virus from replicating. The rest of the uninfected cells are left unharmed.

[hope4clarity]

That was a very interesting article. I agree with you, on the challenges being based on politics and the pharmaceutical companies, it's the only thing that ever breaks my hope... money tends to always win out over what's right, or for the greater good. We're so advanced with science and technology these days, and I feel like we should see some answers soon.

I also read this article recently...

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/antiviral-0810.html

also interesting.

[IDTB]

Here's an interesting 2 page article published in June about a Dr. Anke Burger-Kentischer of the  Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB in Stuttgart who has successfully developed a 3D herpes infection model which can replicate the dormant stage of the virus into a model of the skin. She explains, "After the blisters subside, the herpes virus retreats to the nerve cells and rests there. At this stage, only the virus' DNA can be proven." From there something like stress or too much sun will cause the nerves to release the virus. "It travels along the neural pathways to sites where it has occurred several times before, and the new infection becomes visible." She states that up until now, the skin models used for drug testing detecting the virus have been very simple and unable to simulate the dormancy state of the virus. "We have integrated a neuronal cell line into the certified skin model of the IGB and are able to detect this latency stage for the first time. Just like in the human nerve cells, the particles of the virus itself cannot be seen; only the presence of its DNA can be proven by means of a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) analysis." The researcher and her team then exposed the skin model to ultraviolet radiation (UVB). This reactivated the herpes virus, and there was an infection on the skin model.
Next, they were able to prove this reactivation was also possible on a co-culture. For this, the researchers introduced the latently infected neuronal cell line to a carrier with pores. Subsequently the cells were also irradiated with UVB. The virus was reactivated and penetrated these pores, infecting the cutaneous keratinocytes - the keratinizing cells cultivated previously. To verify the infection, the scientists used a specific antibody that binds to a specific protein on the outer layer of the virus. The coloration of this antibody made it possible to clearly show the infection of the skin cells with the reactivated virus from the nerve cells. "The 3-D herpes infection model therefore simulates an in-vivo situation exactly. Animal experiments will in the future become largely unnecessary."

This is a big step. When you can duplicate the environment and process of the virus in a model, then that allows them to see more clearly and explore possible ways to get in there and disrupt it basically.  

The article, "New 3D herpes infection model brings hope"

http://www.news-medical.net/news/20110627/New-3D-herpes-infection-model-brings-hope.aspx

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I'm sure most of you saw the article 2 days ago on the internet about a group of online gamers with the gaming website, Foldit, that solved a problem in 3 weeks that has baffled scientists for 10 years on figuring out how to build a 3D model similar to the  structure of the AIDS virus.

"Three players in particular were able to build upon each other to establish the most accurate model to date of an elusive protease enzyme in the AIDS-like Mason-Pfizer monkey virus."

"Scientists had so far been unable to identify its exact structure in order to come up with a drug to neutralize it or the corresponding enzyme in human AIDS. Over the past 15 years, scientists had attempted to establish the structure using computerized algorithms to identify the most likely model that would map to the structure of the enzyme, but to no avail. At least until Foldit came along."

The gaming website, launched in 2008, allows anyone with an Internet connection to try their hand at 3D protein folding, that is, modeling the different shape, or structure, that amino acids take to form functional proteins. But because every protein is made up of hundreds, if not thousands of amino acids, there are numerous possibilities on how it can be "folded."

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From what I gather from another article I read, the general idea of the gaming site seems to be for the players to coordinate their efforts to basically build the most efficient structure because that is basically what nature does automatically. And since people have spacial abilities, using a 3D model to visually construct  model works extremely well as opposed to trying computerized algorithms (numbers basically) like the scientists have been doing for years.

There is no doubt that 3D will play a big part in finding cures for diseases in the future.
The challenge in my opinion will be overcoming the inevitable obstacles of politics and money interests of pharmaceutical companies. But still, progress in science gives hope!

[IDTB]

As you already know, in addition to blood tests, herpes is also detected by having physical symptoms and outbreaks for many people that can be cultured.
So based on that fact of course, one obvious sign that would show someone was cured would be..if the  symptoms ended! That is, if you were having symptoms at whatever frequency.
Second, if there were a cure and it was administered to you as being someone who was diagnosed with herpes, even if you weren't having symptoms, then it would just have to be assumed you were cured because anything designated as a "cure" would have already been tested and proven before it would ever put on the market anyway.

Kind of like when people get a preventative vaccine for various other sicknesses. They just have to know and have faith they will never get sick even if they never come in contact with whatever it is that the vaccine was created for.