19-OCT-1993 21:04 RESEARCH USING GENES SHOWS PROMISE TO FIGHT AIDS NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 19 (Reuter) - Research using genes to trigger the body's immune response to HIV has shown promising results in early animal tests, a Philadelphia researcher said Tuesday. Dr. David Weiner of the University of Pennsylvania said immune responses were triggered in mice, rabbits and primates from innoculations with genes from HIV, the virus family that causes AIDS. "We know now that we can vaccinate mice, rabbits and primates. Eventually we may be able to vaccinate people, too," he told Reuters. Although genes therapy to fight AIDS is still years away, Weiner said the concept is promising. "Now we have to do more studies and keep looking for a possible downside." In a presentation at the 33rd annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Weiner said researchers decided to put the AIDS gene in a lymphoma to innoculate the mice because they do not contract the disease itself. "Then we studied the deaths from tumours in the mice, and discovered they developed an immune response that can inhibit HIV," he said. The mice produced antibodies, T-cells and killer T-cells, the markers of positive immune system response, after three to four innoculations, he said. Rabbits produced an immune response even more quickly, Weiner said. In the three primates tested, two of the three began producing T-cell and antibody responses, he said. "The best result was no harm to the monkeys at all, at least no more pain that my kids have when they get a shot. We saw no adverse effects at all." REUTER 19-OCT-1993 20:43 PHOTO AUCTION RAISES THOUSANDS FOR AIDS CHARITY LONDON (Reuter) - An auction of works by renowned photographers including Annie Leibovitz, Lord Snowdon, Cecil Beaton and David Bailey raised more than $53,000 Tuesday for a leading British AIDS charity. More than 100 photographs, many of them portraits of rock and film stars, went under the hammer at London auctioneers Christie's in an event supported by Princess Diana, who attended a sale preview and reception. Irving Penn's 1980 abstract photograph "Blast" fetched the top price of $2,830, while Snowdon's portrait of the artist David Hockney sold for $1,490 -- three times the pre-sale estimate. A 1992 Leibovitz photo of Mick Jagger fetched $1,340. Christie's said the sale raised $54,610 for the London Lighthouse, Europe's largest residential and support center for men and women affected by Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). The center was opened in 1988 and is used by up to 2,000 people per week. REUTER 19-OCT-1993 13:39 Study finds high rate of risky AIDS behavior among lesbians By LIDIA WASOWICZ UPI Science Writer SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) -- Two studies found high rates of unsafe sex and intravenous drug use among lesbians and bisexual women that put them at significant risk for AIDS, health officials reported Tuesday. "The results have major implications, since for more than a decade lesbian and bisexual women have not been considered at high risk for infection," said Dr. George Lemp of the San Francisco Department of Public Health. "Despite the lack of clear evidence of woman-to-woman transmission, the high rates of injection drug use and unsafe sexual behaviors with male and female partners suggests a potential for continued transmission" of the AIDS virus, said Lemp, of the Prevention Services Branch of the department's AIDS Office. "These studies suggest that targeted prevention programs should be expanded to address the needs of lesbians and bisexual women," said study co-author Stephen Mills. One survey, of 498 San Francisco Bay area lesbians and bisexual women older than 16, showed 1.2 percent were infected with the AIDS-causing human immunodeficiency virus, HIV -- a rate three times higher than for all women in this age group in the city. "Although the rates are currently low in relation to other high-risk groups, we think they will continue to rise given the levels of high- risk behavior in this population," Lemp said in an interview. Of those questioned, 10.4 percent reported intravenous drug use since 1978, and 3.8 percent said they injected illegal substances in the past three years. Of the long-term abusers, 71 percent shared needles -- 31 percent of them with homosexual or bisexual men. Among the 405 women with male lovers, 56.3 percent had unprotected oral sex, 39 percent unsafe vaginal intercourse and 10.9 percent risky anal activity in the past three years. Of these, 14.6 percent had unsafe oral, 9.6 percent vaginal and 3.2 percent anal sex with homosexual or bisexual men and 6.4 More?percent engaged in risky oral, 5.2 percent vaginal and 1.7 percent anal practices with male drug users in the past three years. Of women reporting lesbian encounters, 91.9 percent had unprotected oral sex, 28.8 percent unsafe sharing of "sex toys" and 25.2 percent risky vaginal fisting in the past three years. The second study, of 483 lesbians and bisexual women in San Francisco, had similar results, with 47 percent of lesbians and 58 percent of bisexual women reporting inconsistent use of condoms during sex with a man. Of the lesbians, 74 percent had sex with women only in the past three years, 22 percent with both sexes and 3 percent with men only. One percent reported no sexual activity. Among the bisexuals, 72 percent had sex with both men and women in the past three years, 12 percent with men only and 12 percent with women only. Four percent had no partners. The researchers found 44 percent of the women used clinics and 41 percent emergency rooms as their primary health care providers.