Browsing by Author "Roux, Paul"

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    Anti-HIV-1 activity of salivary MUC5B and MUC7 mucins from HIV patients with different CD4 counts
    (BioMed Central Ltd, 2010) Habte, Habtom; de Beer, Corena; Lotz, Zoe; Roux, Paul; Mall, Anwar
    BACKGROUND: We have previously shown that MUC5B and MUC7 mucins from saliva of HIV negative individuals inhibit HIV-1 activity by 100% in an in vitro assay. The purpose of this subsequent study was to investigate whether MUC5B and MUC7 from saliva of HIV patients or with full blown AIDS had a similar inhibitory activity against the virus. METHODS: Salivary MUC5B and MUC7 from HIV patients with different CD4 counts (< 200, 200-400 and > 400) were incubated with HIV-1 prior to infection of the human T lymphoblastoid cell line (CEM SS cells). Cells were then cultured and viral replication was measured by a qualitative p24 antigen assay. The size, charge and immunoreactivity of mucins from HIV negative and positive individuals was also analysed by SDS-PAGE, Western blot and ELISA respectively. RESULTS: It was shown that irrespective of their CD4 counts both MUC5B and MUC7 from HIV patients, unlike the MUC5B and MUC7 from HIV negative individuals, did not inhibit HIV-1 activity. Size, charge and immunoreactivity differences between the mucins from HIV negative and positive individuals and among the mucins from HIV patients of different CD4 count was observed by SDS-PAGE, Western blot and ELISA. CONCLUSIONS: Purified salivary mucins from HIV positive patients do not inhibit the AIDS virus in an in vitro assay. Although the reason for the inability of mucins from infected individuals to inhibit the virus is not known, it is likely that there is an alteration of the glycosylation pattern, and therefore of charge of mucin, in HIV positive patients. The ability to inhibit the virus by aggregation by sugar chains is thus diminished.
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    Informed consent for voluntary counselling and testing for HIV infection in South African mothers and children: An assessment of burdens and consequences and an argument for a modification in the process of informed consent
    (2001) Roux, Paul; Fleischer, Theodore
    The HIV / AIDS epidemic is devastating Africa. The continent lacks the material resources to treat infected persons or to support those affected by the epidemic. One great resource in Africa is the cohesive strength of families. Because of a fear of stigma, HIV infected persons tend not to disclose their diagnosis to their families. This non-disclosure perpetuates stigma, because ordinary people do not discover that their own family may be affected by the epidemic. Non-disclosure also results in the loss of specific family support to infected individuals and the loss of general family support as a national resource. The standard method of taking informed consent prior to HIV testing of pregnant mothers has the effect of enhancing non-disclosure, because of its inherent focus on the patient as an isolated, autonomous decision maker. This dissertation advances the thesis that an alteration in the process of informed consent, to involve the family in deliberation prior to consent, will facilitate disclosure of an HIV-positive diagnosis to the family. Disclosure will have the positive effects firstly of giving the mother access to the emotional support of her family and secondly of serving to educate the family, and through the family society as a whole, that ordinary, virtuous women can be infected with HIV.
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    The role of crude saliva and purified salivary mucins in the inhibition of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1
    (BioMed Central Ltd, 2012) Peacocke, Julia; Lotz, Zoe; de Beer, Corena; Roux, Paul; Mall, Anwar
    BACKGROUND:Sub-Saharan Africa is the world's worst HIV-AIDS affected region. More interventions to manage this pandemic are urgently required. Transmission of the virus through an exchange of saliva is rarely known to occur. This project sought to verify statistically previous findings in our laboratory, that crude saliva from uninfected individuals together with its purified mucin components inhibited HIV-1, whilst mucins from infected saliva did not show this inhibition, in an in vitro assay. METHODS: Saliva was extracted in 4M guanidinium hydrochloride and proteolytic inhibitors at pH 6.5, followed by the isolation of MUC5B and MUC7 by Sepharose 4B gel filtration and further purification of these mucins by density-gradient ultra-centrifugation in caesium chloride. Agarose gel electrophoresis, Western blotting and amino acid compositional analysis determined the size, purity and identity of the mucins. The inhibitory activity of crude saliva and purified MUC5B and MUC7, from HIV negative (n=20) and HIV positive (n=20) donors, was tested by their incubation with subtype C HIV-1 and subsequent infection of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). PCR was done on tandem repeat regions of MUC5B and MUC7 DNA to investigate whether any association existed between gene polymorphism and susceptibility to infection. RESULTS: There was an inter-individual variation in the amounts of MUC5B and MUC7 in saliva. In contrast to previous studies, crude saliva and purified mucins from both HIV negative and HIV positive individuals inhibited the infection of HIV-1 in an in vitro assay. DNA analysis of the tandem repeat regions of MUC5B and MUC7 revealed no difference between groups. CONCLUSIONS: Crude saliva and its mucins, MUC5B and MUC7, from both uninfected controls and HIV positive individuals inhibited HIV-1 in an in vitro assay.