Scientist unravels how HIV hijacks body defences
January 1st, 2012 - 5:01 pm ICT by IANSWashington, Jan 1 (IANS) An American scientist has unravelled how the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) appropriates the body’s own defences to promote AIDS, a discovery that could help curb its spread.
Nevin Krogan, associate professor of cellular pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), described how HIV commandeers restriction factors, a class of proteins that have evolved to block viruses such as HIV, to weaken the body’s defences and enhance the virulence of HIV infection.
“One of the keys to HIV’s success is how quickly it can evolve new attack strategies — and the way in which it uses our own proteins against us is a prime example of that,” said Krogan.
“However, now that we’ve shed light on this complex process, we are one step closer to developing new drugs that will help us pull ahead in this evolutionary arms race,” said Krogan.
AIDS has killed more than 25 million people around the world since first being identified some 30 years ago. In the US alone, more than one million people live with HIV/AIDS at an annual cost of $34 billion.
Krogan’s experiments show promise for the development of more effective antiretroviral therapies for people with HIV. Further, they have laid the foundation for future research at Gladstone Institute, affiliated with UCSF.
- Protein knocks out HIV by starving it of raw materials - Feb 13, 2012
- How HIV reactivates after entering a dormant state - Feb 27, 2011
- 28,000 die of HIV/AIDS in China - Jan 22, 2012
- Green-glowing cats are the new tool in AIDS research - Sep 12, 2011
- How interferon-induced genes launch antiviral defenses - Apr 11, 2011
- Engineered protein prevents AIDS virus from entering cells - Apr 01, 2011
- Russia tests HIV vaccine - Feb 06, 2012
- Discovery suggests new way to prevent HIV from infecting human cells - Dec 23, 2010
- Virus that piggybacks on AIDS virus to beat disease developed - Mar 28, 2011
- Aim to eliminate HIV-AIDS from South-East Asia by 2015: WHO (Dec 1 is World AIDS Day) - Nov 30, 2011
- Aid appeal to combat HIV/AIDS in Myanmar - Dec 06, 2011
- HIV's ancestor much older than previously thought - Sep 17, 2010
- UN meet delegates says funds for HIV/AIDS control inadequate - Jun 11, 2011
- Now, cats that glow in the dark - Sep 12, 2011
- HIV/AIDS still a serious health problem: WHO - Dec 01, 2010
Tags: american scientist, antiretroviral therapies, associate professor, attack strategies, california san francisco, cellular pharmacology, future research, gladstone institute, hijacks, hiv aids, hiv infection, human immunodeficiency virus, immunodeficiency virus hiv, new drugs, one million, prime example, proteins, ucsf, university of california san francisco, virulence