LES HÉROS DU VIH : 40 ans de recherche et d’espoir

Pour découvrir l’entretien complet avec Bruno Spire, voici le lien vers la vidéo sur la chaîne
d’EchoSciences Sud Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNMZLPU8_YE
Vidéo réalisée pour EchoSciences Sud Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur
https://www.echosciences-paca.fr avec le directeur de recherche à l’INSERM Bruno Spire
(SESSTIM – AMU/Inserm/IRD).
Sur une idée originale de Play Azur Prod.
Vidéo coordonnée par Gulliver https://www.gulliver-sciences.fr et Play Azur Prod:
https://playazur-prod.fr/.
Voir aussi : https://www.echosciences-paca.fr/articles/video-echoscientifique-n-31

MERCI à Tania Louis pour la relecture de cet épisode. Elle a également réalisé une vidéo sur ce thème, retrouvez là ici : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_7PdrueGzI

► ERRATUM
Pour l’instant tout va bien 😉
► Sources :
Premières apparitions du virus :
https://www.pasteur.fr/fr/journal-recherche/actualites/40-ans-decouverte-du-vih-premiers-cas-maladie-mysterieuse-au-debut-annees-1980

VIH : 40 ans de recherche et d’action (site de l’institut Pasteur)
https://www.pasteur.fr/fr/journal-recherche/actualites/40-ans-decouverte-du-vih-virus-responsable-du-sida-est-identifie-20-mai-1983
https://www.pasteur.fr/fr/recherche-vihsida

ITW Françoise barré -Sinoussi :

https://www.pasteur.fr/fr/journal-recherche/actualites/francoise-barre-sinoussi-ses-travaux-virus-vih1

40 ans de la découverte du VIH : histoire complète dans un pdf de l’institut pasteur : https://www.pasteur.fr/sites/default/files/rubrique_espace_presse/documents_de_presse/dossiers_de_presse/dp_2022/dp_40ansvih_final_20230411.pdf

L’institut pasteur et le VIH :
https://frenchhealthcare.fr/fr/linstitut-pasteur-poursuit-le-combat-contre-le-vih-40-apres-avoir-decouvert-le-virus/

Publication le 5 juin 1981 dans la revue MMWR : https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/june_5.htm

HTLV, le premier retrovirus humain :
https://www.pasteur.fr/fr/centre-medical/fiches-maladies/htlv-i

Robert « Bob » Gallo, le découvreur du premier retrovirus humain : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Gallo

Françoise Brun Vézinet, qui a mis en relation Willy Rozenbaum et l’insitut pasteur : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Françoise_Brun-Vézinet

Jean-Claude Chermann, le grand oublié du prix Nobel:
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Claude_Chermann

Bruno Spire, chercheur puis président de l’association AIDES :
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Spire

L’article du 20 mai 1983 qui marque officiellement l’identification du virus responsable du SIDA :
https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.6189183

Sida et VIH : à quand la guérison ?

Sida et VIH

Le rôle du monde associatif :
Daniel Defert, président fondateur de Aides : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Defert

L’AZT :
https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/aid.1988.4.107

Les trithérapies :
https://www.aides.org/traitement-vih-sida

C’est quoi une trithérapie ?

https://www.futura-sciences.com/sante/questions-reponses/sida-sida-fonctionne-tritherapie-16444/
https://planet-vie.ens.fr/thematiques/microbiologie/virologie/les-tritherapies-antiretrovirales

La PrEP :
https://www.aides.org/prep
https://www.sidaction.org/actualites/la-prep-mode-demploi-572
https://www.catie.ca/fr/prophylaxie-pre-exposition-prep

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1130634323004828
https://www.bmj.com/content/359/bmj.j5011.abstract

Le patient de Dusseldorf :
https://www.pasteur.fr/fr/espace-presse/documents-presse/vih-troisieme-cas-probable-guerison-monde-apres-greffe-moelle-osseuse

Le patient de Londres
https://vih.org/20190306/le-patient-de-londres-un-second-cas-de-remission-fonctionnelle-du-vih/#:~:text=Timothy%20Brown%20est%20connu%20comme,sur%20le%20co-récepteur%20CCR5.

La patiente de New York
https://www.lavoixdunord.fr/1142042/article/2022-02-17/la-patiente-de-new-york-une-femme-guerit-du-vih-pour-la-premiere-fois-grace-un

Le patient de City of hope
https://www.cityofhope.org/hiv-patient-achieves-remission-following-stem-cell-transplant-city-of-hope

Le patient de genève
https://www.pasteur.fr/fr/espace-presse/documents-presse/vih-20-mois-remission-apres-greffe-moelle-osseuse-absence-mutation-protectrice-patient-geneve

La fin du SIDA en 2030 ? Article des nations unies :
https://news.un.org/fr/story/2023/07/1136817

Le rapport de ONUSIDA : https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/pressreleaseandstatementarchive/2023/september/20230920_unga-hiv-progress#:~:text=The%20path%20that%20ends%20AIDS,other%20Sustainable%20Development%20Goals%20%7C%20UNAIDS&text=UNAIDS%2C%20the%20Governments%20of%20Botswana,the%20path%20that%20ends%20AIDS.
► Crédits photos/vidéos
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1raXQz07XVIgZ-FT4i6YumMsRPc4ryOC9lXDdOlyUz5Q/edit?usp=sharing

► La chaîne Mathador est membre du café des sciences : https://www.cafe-sciences.org/
#prEP

My name is Franck. I’m a musician, a video maker on youtube, I’m 47 years old, and I grew up in the 80s, a strange time when people turned dials dials to pass what is still called the

Phone calls”. A time when toys could be found in packages floppy disks in computers, or tang in our fridges. A magical decade, when, satisfied with our revolutionary Minitel we were far from imagining the dawn

Before us… I love my memories of those years. The pins on our denim jackets, the afternoons we spent playing this new thing we called the Nintendo. We were in awe of these new TV channels we were watching,

A malabar in our mouths, having bubble contests. contests. The youngest among us would fall asleep with a kiki, others cursing their walkman their walkman that had run out of batteries. But none of us was aware that there was a flip side to this golden age.

That we were about to face one of the worst pandemics in human history: AIDS. I myself have lived through these decades, and which is why, when Echosciences Sud Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, based on an original idea idea of Play Azur Prod, invited me to Marseille,

On the premises of the AIDE association, to discover the advances in this field, I realised that it was would be a good idea, beyond the millions of deaths this disease has caused, it would also be good to put

The research and advances made by men and women who work tirelessly to find a cure. to finally put an end to this scourge that has for over 40 years. You’ll see, even if the battle is far from won, real progress has been made,

Thanks in particular to the work of all those people who have sometimes dedicated their lives to this fight. And even today, and for all this time the researchers, but also people living with HIV, associations and politicians are

Gathered around what is probably one of the one of the greatest contemporary challenges in terms of human health. This is their story. Generic Chapter 1: The discovery 4 February 1983, at 5.45pm, a man runs runs screaming through the corridors

Of the Institut Pasteur. Seen from the outside, his enthusiasm borders on madness. From a unsteady gait because of his eyesight tired from hours of observation, he staggers through the corridors shouting “I’ve got it! I’ve got it!

The man’s name is Charles Dauguet. He is the in charge of electron microscopy at the viral oncology” research unit at the institut pasteur research unit at the Institut Pasteur.

Days ago: to take the first photo of a new the first photograph of a new virus recently detected, and whose uncontrolled spread health authorities. This is a historic moment, because at not even Charles Dauguet,

Could have imagined the scale of the battle of the battle that was only just beginning… It all began in early 1981, when on 5 June the American Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported a rare form of pneumonia in young of pneumonia in young homosexuals

Californians. Even though a study carried out revealed cases as early as 1959, the epidemic had not then developed the epidemic had not developed. first warning of the pandemic that was to follow. A very first

Publication takes place in the reports called MMWR reports, on 5 June 1981, which recounted the symptoms and characteristics of the first 5 with this strange disease. Very quickly, there is talk of a strange “cancer” which changes its name over the coming months.

“the gay plague”, or “the gay syndrome” are first syndrome” are first used because this disease seems male homosexual population. Then the name was changed to “gay syndrome”. disease” when, in addition to homosexuals heroin addicts,

Haemophiliacs and Haitians. All names which we now know, in addition to being extremely stigmatising, they were also also false. And it was in the course of that same year that the acronym AIDS was adopted, for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

The year was 1982, and transmission is becoming particularly worrying, and American scientists are measuring the urgency and seriousness of the situation. A few months later, Willy Rozenbaum, assistant head of clinic at the infectious and tropical diseases department at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris.

Consultation with two men, one of whom has a severe cough suffering from an unknown ailment. Or, this doctor had read this publication of the first cases on June 5, 1981, and after a chest X-ray, he concluded that that this man’s disease could be

Come from the same infection as the the 5 Californian patients in the article. From then on, a work team was put in place around Willy Rozenbaum. Objective: Determine the cause of this new disease. In this way all the human viruses known at the time

Were reviewed, and then eliminated from the list of potential agents. An idea emerged from the working group led by Willy Rozenbaum: The infection could come from a retrovirus. Retroviruses are a family of viruses so called because they work in the same way as other viruses.

Reverse to the way it has worked historically. In fact, at the heart of a cell, all the genetic information is carried by transcribed into RNA, another type of protein.

Nucleic acid, which will be used, among other things, to transport the genetic information from the DNA. Now, in the case of a retrovirus, it is the opposite phenomenon is observed: The transformation of RNA into DNA, thanks to a special enzyme called reverse transcriptase.

Now, in 1982, the only known human retrovirus was called “HTLV”, and it was because this one was responsible for opportunistic infections similar to those contracted by AIDS patients that Willy Rozenbaum suspects the HTLV to be the retrovirus responsible for AIDS.

However, Rozenbaum did not have the necessary the necessary equipment and resources to go further in his research. That’s when one of his virologist and medical doctor, was able to Françoise Brun-Vézinet, with whom he works at the hospital Bichat, made a suggestion to him:

She herself took courses in at the Pasteur Institute, and remembers her professors Luc Montagnier and Jean-Claude Chermann, or Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, with whom she suggested with whom she offers to put them in touch.

And so it was that just before Christmas 1982, Willy Rozenbaum brought all these elements to the team of Institut Pasteur at a meeting that was to mark a turning point a turning point in the history of research.

The Institut Pasteur team’s first decision Institut Pasteur team is as follows: AIDS being the result of the destruction destruction of immune system cells, lymphocytes are virtually absent at the end of the disease, so it’s not at that point that the

Stage that you should be taking samples to detect the hypothetical retrovirus. The lymph node of a patient in the early early stage of the disease, called the “BRU patient”, whose cells will be cultured,

That they will work on from the first days of January 1983. Three weeks later, the verdict was in: reverse transcription activity and a effect (i.e. cell death) is observed. is observed. It’s January 20, 1983 and

This was the first confirmation of the existence the existence of a retrovirus linked to AIDS. If the virus is developing in the cells of this culture, then it should be possible to observe it. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi therefore entrusts Charles Dauguet with the following instructions

What to look for: the retrovirus should be about 100 nanometres in diameter, have an envelope, and form bud at the cell surface. Accompanied by his colleague Odile Croissant, Charles Dauguet spends hours in front of his computer.

Microscope without success. And on 4 February 1983 at 5.45pm after a whole day of scrutinising the cultured cells, he let the electron microscope microscope cool down before switching it off, and suddenly sees the virus under the screen. And so it’s down the

Corridors of the institute shouting “I’ve got it! I I’ve got it!” that he phones the rest of the team. Immediately, the next step is on everyone’s lips. Even though this virus doesn’t seem to have the

Morphology of HTLV, the Institut Pasteur team Pasteur team contacts researcher Robert Gallo, discoverer of the famous retrovirus, to ask him to send them to send them HTLV reagents to check if they were infected.

The virus they had just isolated. they had just isolated. The results were negative, the conclusion was clear: the team from Pasteur team had just discovered a new retrovirus, different from HTLV, and experienced a historic moment,

The first image of what would soon be soon to be known as HIV. Chapter 2: A race against disease Even if the causality between this virus and AIDS will not be established by this same

A year later in 1984, their work was finally finally published on 20 May 1983 in the journal Science, which has since the official date of identification of the retrovirus that causes AIDS. This marked the beginning of a period in which

Research would wage an all-out battle battle. Against the spread of the disease, but also for understanding, diagnosis and, of course, treatment. The word “pandemic” had not yet been used, and and there are only about fifty cases in France.

Cases. However, the number of people affected is increasing rapidly, and beyond the figures, it’s the inexorable death rate that strikes terror. A diagnosis of AIDS is then a real death sentence, and that’s why every advance is crucial.

In 1985, when PCR did not even exist, the virus genome was completely sequenced, the virus genome was fully sequenced, accelerating the development diagnostic tools. Later, a first screening test was marketed the following year, in 1985, thanks to the collaboration of

Françoise Brun-Vezinet and Christine Rouzioux, virologists Rouzioux, virologists at the Hôpital Bichat. At the same time, other teams are beginning to thinking about tools for treatment, or for possible vaccines. “The was immense”, as Françoise Barré-Sinoussi. But the fight has a difficulty

In 1985, when a second strain of the second strain of the virus was discovered, which was in turn sequenced the following year the following year, in 1986, the year in which officially given the name HIV, for “human immunodeficiency virus”. to this retrovirus.

Stubbornly, alongside Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier at the Pasteur Institute the team continues its research. They include David Klatzmann and Jean-Claude Gluckman who had previously worked to establish the causal link between the virus and AIDS,

Françoise Rey and Bruno Spire. Their work resulted in the sequencing of the AIDS genome. HIV-2, as well as a screening test for this second a few months later in 1987. But it was at the end of that year 1987 that a major breakthrough in the

Made its appearance: AZT. AZT, or Zidovudine, is a drug used to treat antiretroviral, i.e. used to treat infections infections caused by retroviruses. Originally designed to treat cancer this molecule has remained unexploited because it

Serious side effects, with very moderate efficacy very moderate efficacy in the treatment of cancer. Until three American researchers (Samuel Broder, Hiroaki Mitsuya, and Robert Yarchoan), came up with the idea of using this drug as a possible treatment of AIDS. They carry out the

First tests, and the initial results encouraging: an effect on the reverse transcriptase in vitro. The team then conducted its first clinical trial, which clearly showed that AZT increased the number of of certain lymphocytes in AIDS patients.

In other words, lymphocytes, which are major role in the immune system. immune system, seem to multiply under treatment. And as a reminder, the mode of action of HIV is to infect and kill lymphocytes, gradually destroying the whole

Of the immune system. The action of AZT therefore excellent news for the fight against HIV. Unfortunately, this treatment is not very effective, with many side effects… During the 90s, the fight was at its developed countries. The epidemic

Has become an uncontrollable pandemic, with deaths are in the millions. But at the same time, the fight is being waged on all fronts, and the and the world of research opens its doors to a

Which will prove decisive in reducing the spread the spread of the virus: the voluntary sector. In 1984, the AIDES association founded by Daniel Defert has been welcoming researchers from the Pasteur Institute, creating a bridge Pasteur, creating a bridge with people living with HIV.

Living with the disease. A bridge that has two fundamental advantages: on the one hand, this bridge enables the people concerned to find scientific scientific answers to their questions, and also enables researchers to to receive information about the

Effects of their research on patients’ everyday patients. An associative world that even goes so far as to influence the way research is conducted. In 1989, the act’up association was created in its

A more political response to this merciless duel duel between humans and disease, striking back blow for blow: When Freddie Mercury died on iconic lead singer of the queen band, a few years later solidays a few years later,

Which raises funds by organising charity charity concerts, and the association sidaction, represented among others by Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Line Renaud. The virus has spread across the globe since its discovery in the early

80 . World AIDS Day is December 1st every year since 1988. This immense work on all sides is leading to more and more victories, particularly from 1996 onwards with the arrival of the first tritherapies,

Which enabled people with HIV to receive treatment, which consists of combining three antiretroviral drugs that work by blocking certain stages of the HIV cycle. replication cycle. These triple therapies In addition to offering little

Almost normal living conditions for HIV-positive people living conditions for HIV-positive people. the pandemic significantly, along with condom prevention, treatment and care. screening, or in general, understanding the mechanisms of transmission.

Between 2012 and 2015, there was a real with the arrival of a new, more effective treatment that offers nothing less than an effective effective way to protect against AIDS: PrEP.   PrEP or pre-exposure prophylaxis is a preventive tool that allows

An HIV-negative person potentially exposed to HIV to protect themselves by taking antiretroviral treatment. Its effectiveness has been demonstrated on numerous occasions, for both continuous and as well as when taken on an occasional basis

Bruno Spire is an Inserm researcher who has worked collaborated with Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Jean-Claude Chermann under the under the direction of Luc Montagnier. He has chaired the AIDES association for 8 years. In an interview organised by

Play Azur Prod for Echoscience Sud Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, he talks to us about this treatment that has truly the fight against HIV. Epilogue As I write these lines, the 80s are a long way off us. Club Dorothée is but a distant memory. and the euro has replaced the franc, and the windscreens have long since car stickers. However,

If there is a single link between then and now, it’s the HIV virus, which continues to spread continues to spread around the world. Over the last 40 years, this ongoing battle has not come to an end,

Despite some real progress. However, the democratisation of means of prevention such as condoms, PrEP and even the various various treatments, have led to a fall transmission. Progress progress has been made. In 2023, anyone who is

Known as “the Dusseldorf patient” received a marrow a bone marrow transplant, following leukaemia, and has interrupted his antiretroviral treatment in a supervised. Four years later, no virus is detectable in his body, which could be could be a sixth probable case of

After patients in Berlin, London, New York London, New York, City of Hope and Geneva. Please note: this is not a generalizable method for curing HIV, and it’s not the only one. obviously, prevention is still the best way the best way of combating this scourge.  

Today, in 2024, the targets are being set firm and resolute. In a report published in July 2023 and entitled “The Path that Ends AIDS”, UNAIDS shows that even if there is still a long way to go to a vaccine or a means of treatment.

Cure, the eradication of AIDS is now more of a more a political and financial choice than a medical one. The 95-95-95 objective, implemented in certain Botswana, Eswatini, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zimbabwe is producing extremely results. The target

Is that 95% of people living with know their HIV status, that 95% of these people are taking antiretroviral treatment and that 95% of people on treatment have an undetectable viral load. Compliance with these three conditions could suggest a sentence that many people

Generations have hoped to hear one day: AIDS could be behind us one day. This prospect would then be the result of decades of discoveries, of advances, that we owe to the women and men who have devoted their lives to this struggle. What

Be thanked. But in France as elsewhere, this goal also depends on on us. So more than ever, to put an end to this scourge protect ourselves, and get tested. “In 2008, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Was awarded to Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier for the discovery of HIV”. “The BRU patient whose lymph node study identified the virus, has passed away in 1983.” “He wished to remain anonymous. He is, however, the starting point for 50 years.

Of research. 0:20:37.560,0:20:40.960 Many thanks to Echosciences Sud Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and Play Azur prod for allowing me to make to make this video. As a reminder, you can find the full interview with Bruno Spire on the don’t hesitate, you’ll see,

He’s a really fascinating person. I hope this story will be as interesting for you I’m counting on you to share it with others I’m counting on you to share it with others, because you’ll understand,

The battle is not yet won, and that’s why why I leave you with the slogan of the chain, which has never been more appropriate: “Don’t take the risk: calculate it”.