Scientists 'outwit' Aids virus
Scientists 'outwit' Aids virus
2008-04-30Newsfeed
Scientists have found a way of outwitting the HIV Aids virus which gets round the problem of drug resistance that affects existing treatments.
Scientists have found a way of outwitting the HIV Aids virus which gets round the problem of drug resistance that affects existing treatments.
Working in the laboratory, researchers at Boston University in Massachusetts were able to block HIV infection by inactivating a key human protein.
Most drugs used against HIV target the virus's own proteins. But HIV mutates at such a high rate that drug-resistant strains emerge quickly.
Strategies designed to outmanoeuvre the virus such as switching medications and prescribing multiple drugs can increase the risk of side-effects and make life more difficult for the patient.
The new approach targets a protein produced by human cells rather than HIV, and is therefore impervious to the virus's mutations.
Researchers in the US found that inactivating the protein, a signalling molecule that activates T cells known as ITK, suppressed HIV's ability to infect key human immune cells.
When HIV enters the body it enters T cells and takes them over. Instead of defending the body against invaders, the T cells devote themselves to helping the HIV virus replicate. But without active ITK, the virus cannot take advantage of the signalling pathways within T cells it needs to make this happen.
Copyright © The Press Association 2008
