Scientists here have discovered a previously unknown mechanism that cells use to fight off the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the cause of AIDS.
The findings indicate that two proteins that normally help repair cellular DNA can also destroy the DNA made by HIV after it enters a human cell. This HIV DNA is essential for the virus to survive and reproduce.
The findings could lead to a possible new strategy for treating HIV infection and AIDS, one that might complement current therapies and would probably be less susceptible to viral drug resistance – an increasingly urgent dilemma for patients and doctors.
Currently, doctors treat people with AIDS using combinations of drugs that target the virus itself. These drugs do not eliminate HIV from the body, but they do block its ability to reproduce and spread, and they restore most people with AIDS to good health.
In time, however, HIV can develop mutations that render those drugs ineffective.
"Our findings identify a new potential drug target, one that involves a natural host defense," says principal investigator Richard Fishel, professor of molecular virology, immunology and molecular genetics and a researcher with the OSUCCC – James. "HIV treatments that target cellular components should be far less likely to develop resistance."
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Source : Ohio State University
The findings indicate that two proteins that normally help repair cellular DNA can also destroy the DNA made by HIV after it enters a human cell. This HIV DNA is essential for the virus to survive and reproduce.
The findings could lead to a possible new strategy for treating HIV infection and AIDS, one that might complement current therapies and would probably be less susceptible to viral drug resistance – an increasingly urgent dilemma for patients and doctors.
Currently, doctors treat people with AIDS using combinations of drugs that target the virus itself. These drugs do not eliminate HIV from the body, but they do block its ability to reproduce and spread, and they restore most people with AIDS to good health.
In time, however, HIV can develop mutations that render those drugs ineffective.
"Our findings identify a new potential drug target, one that involves a natural host defense," says principal investigator Richard Fishel, professor of molecular virology, immunology and molecular genetics and a researcher with the OSUCCC – James. "HIV treatments that target cellular components should be far less likely to develop resistance."
For the complete article Click Here
Source : Ohio State University
