After years of witnessing the deadly effects of AIDS, a University of Wisconsin scientist has developed a strategy he hopes will produce a vaccination to destroy some, if not all, strains of the HIV virus.

Jonah Sacha, an immunologist and assistant scientist in the UW AIDS Vaccine Research Laboratory at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, said he believes he has discovered stable molecules on the surface of HIV-infected cells. He said the destruction of these molecules will halt the reproduction and spread of the HIV virus.

Since the beginning of time, ancient retroviruses like HIV have inserted themselves into both primate and human genomes by infusing themselves into host chromosomes, Sacha said. As a result, every human and primate genome consists of 10 percent of these viral genes, he added.

When a strain of the HIV virus invades a cell and replicates, it somehow prompts these dormant retrovirus cells to generate viral proteins, Sacha said. These proteins then travel to the surface of the cell, so if the immune system is correctly taught to react to them, they could become indicators that permit the immune system to destroy the whole cell.

“Retroviruses, which were discovered at [UW] in the 1970s, are still a mystery about which I know very little; yet my study aims to prove that their destruction could result in the cure of at least some strains of the HIV virus,” Sacha said.

One of the biggest obstacles to HIV vaccine development is the virus’s ability to change its shape to evade the immune system, said David O’Connor, assistant professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.

O’Connor added he thinks Sacha’s idea is terrific because of its possibility to create an altogether more impressive immune response by focusing the immune system on targets like retroviruses that are unable to change.

To fund his study, Sacha has received an exploratory grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which provides funding for researchers who attempt to find cures to malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS.

Sacha said he has been given $100,000 to start his research, adding he possesses the possibility to gain another one million dollars at the end of the project’s first phase.

“Jonah’s hypothesis is a novel idea that will take many years of intense testing — yet, it is one that must be explored,” said David Watkins, professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and principal investigator of the AIDS Vaccine Research Laboratory.

At this moment, it is too early to say Sacha’s idea will have any impact on people affected by the HIV virus, but his proposal is an intelligent and drastic new idea in a field that is desperately in need of radical new ideas, O’Connor said.

In a perfect world, the vaccination would be a success and would cure all mutations of the HIV virus. However, due to the virus’s vast adaptive abilities, even this vaccination probably would not work on every stain, Sacha added.