Toronto Researchers Discover
Revolutionary Method for Testing of HIV

Early studies show new marker provides
results earlier than current methods

December 22, 1997 ...Toronto researchers have discovered a revolutionary new way of detecting HIV infection which provides quicker, faster diagnoses.

Research conducted at The Toronto Hospital and the Canadian Red Cross by Dr. David Phipps and Dr. Donald Branch has resulted in the discovery of a new marker for HIV which reduces the lag time between the time of infection and time of detection. Current HIV tests have a window period - the time of infection to the time of detection - anywhere from six weeks to 6 months. During this time, the unknowingly infected person could become a blood donor or have unprotected sex putting others at risk.

The researchers have found that an enzyme - fyn kinase - that turns immune cells on and off is chronically turned on in the HIV-infected state in as little as 30 minutes following infection.

"This is very exciting news," says Dr. Phipps, who was a post-doctoral fellow at The Toronto Hospital during the time the finding was made and is currently Manager of Biotechnology and Medical Products with the Innovations Foundation, a technology licensing company founded by the University of Toronto. "We expect that this marker could lead to new, early diagnostic methods for HIV."

"This finding is striking," says Dr. Branch, a staff scientist at both The Toronto Hospital and the Red Cross and an Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Toronto. "From a clinical perspective, this particular finding marks the possibility of a new way of testing for HIV at a very early stage. We are also examining other applications of this discovery related to HIV management as well as diagnosis."

The results of this research were published in the November 1, 1997 issue of Blood.

The researchers have applied for a patent and are currently collaborating on developing a screening kit for clinical testing with pharmaceutical firm Select Therapeutics of Ottawa. Says Dr. Branch, "We are currently conducting more studies, but our early work shows that this test could actually replace current testing for HIV." Dr. Branch notes, however, that this test would actually be a surrogate test for the disease since it does not test for HIV but an enzyme that is activated in the HIV-infected state.

"HIV infections are usually diagnosed by measuring antibodies produced in response to the infection," Dr. Branch says. "Our research has identified an enzyme normally present in T-cells that becomes highly activated in HIV infection."

The initial research was funded by The Toronto Hospital through its HIV Research Fellowship program; subsequent funding has been provided by the Canadian Red Cross, the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research and Innovations Foundations.

For more information, contact Mary Stobbe,
Public Relations Officer, The Toronto Hospital,
416-340-3303.

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