The Normalization of HIV

By James Threadgill and Stephen McCarter

According to Watson1,it has been stated by Schrodinger2 that DNA can be described and are subject to certain mathematical principles. We are proposing that one of these may be normalization of a mutating virus DNA structure.
One of the major problems of using an HIV-1 vaccine is that the outside viral coat of HIV-1 changes because the HIV-1 reverse transcriptase mutates the viral genome every 10000 kilobases. , With the AIDS virus genome being approximately 10000 KB long.
To make a viable vaccine, the structure of the out side viral coat ,specifically the CD4 receptor and gp1203 must be consistent if the immune system of the host is to identity the virus and destroy it. This is extremely difficult when the virus mutates every time viral replication occurs.
To try to counteract this problem, it is proposed that certain antisense RNA be constructed of various circular patterns,Dicer patterns, palindrome sequences and/or LTRs be constructed, injected or added by vector into the HIV-1 virus to inhibit replication4 or create sequences of nonsensensical genetic information, while a nonmutating reverse transcriptase of known characterization is added to the HIV-1 virus creating upon viral replication a viral product of consistent viral structure. The nonmutating reverse transcriptase does not come from HIV-1 , but from another retrovirus. The viral DNA structure is then said to be normalized.
A library of normalized virial HIV DNA can be developed, which then can be used for comparison against known HIV genotypes, which could conceivably lead to detection of HIV-1 viral particles, and then used to make vaccines to use therapeutically against the virus.
Because this normalized virus has a nonmutated genetic code, traditional vaccine therapy is then conceivable. An HIV-1 vaccine is then developed around the structure of the normalized HIV-1 virus gene product. This normalized viral structure is then subject to an HIV-1 vaccine, which is then injected into the host to kill the normalized virus.
Because the gene product of the normalized HIV virus contains the genome of the mutating reverse transcriptase, the antisense RNA sequences must be periodically be introduced to prevent more wild type HIV-1 from being produced, with the addition of a viral reverse transcriptase that does not mutate. Each time this normalization of the virus is accomplished, the viral load could be diminished by the vaccine, which then makes the remaining wild-type virus in the body susceptible to continued treatment by other methods of attack or destruction by the vaccine at a later time.
Of course, there is a problem with the fact that there may be multiple genotypes of HIV-1 infecting the host at the same time. It is conceivable that the most infective type should be attacked first. The other genotypes that are present may be then normalized and destroyed after the most infective viral structure is vaccinated first.
The proposal further states that certain genotypes of the virus should be more common than other genotypes2 and that by creating vaccines for these genotypes the most common and infective forms of HIV can be vaccinated. As vaccines are created for the most prevalent forms, then only the rarer less infective genotypes will be a threat to the host. Eventually it should be possible to vaccinate against even the less common HIV-1 genotypes.


1. Watson,James D.and Berry, Andrew, DNA: The Secret of Life,Alfred A. Knopf. P35-36(2003)

2. Schrodinger,Erwin,What is Life?’ The Stability of Naturally Selected Genes” p22,1967

3.Zhou et al. Structured definition of a conseved neutralization epitope on HIV-1 gp120 Nature 445,732-737(2007).

4. Rossi, John, in vivo delivery of Dicer substrate RNAs for treatment of HIV infection, “Novel Approaches for Targeted Delivery”,RNA Interference, Molecular Medicine Tri-Conference, Moscone North Convention Center, San Francisco Ca, agenda,p19 Feb 2010