Affinity Hemodialysis for Antiviral Therapy with Specific Application to HIV.pdfVIP

Journal of Theoretical Medicine, 2002 Vol. 4 (3), pp. 157–166 Affinity Hemodialysis for Antiviral Therapy with Specific Application to HIV RICHARD H. TULLISa,*, DAVID O. SCAMURRAb and JULIAN L. AMBRUS Jr.c aChief Science Officer, Aethlon Medical, Inc., 3344 Industrial Court, Suite 1W, San Diego, CA 92121, USA; bDepartment of Pathology, Catholic Health System, Buffalo, NY, USA; cDivision of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology, University of Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14203, USA (Received 9 October 2001; In final form 23 May 2002) We propose an artificial lymph node to improve immune function in fighting viral diseases. The device is based on hemodialysis using a cartridge containing a solid phase affinity resin. Virus capture is mediated by a collection of broad specificity antibodies covalently coupled to agarose. Viral proteins, which can directly damage uninfected cells, are also efficiently removed. Immobilized antisense DNA provides a mechanism to remove infectious viral nucleic acids. Theoretical calculations suggest that the device could effectively remove virus, toxic viral proteins and infectious viral nucleic acids from the blood thereby limiting disease by preventing reinfection of new cells. In the absence of newly infected cells, previously infected cells are cleared by the immune system. For a typical immobilized antibody, calculations predict a pseudo-first order rate of capture ðt1=2 , 10 minÞ with viral load reduction ,660- fold at equilibrium. Theoretical calculations of a diffusion limited process predict t1=2 , 2:8 h: Measured transport rates for latex particles in a