Study: Monkey's Protein Prevents HIV

[La_Serpiente]

Study: Monkey's Protein Prevents HIV

Scientists say they've discovered how some monkeys resist infection with the AIDS (news - web sites) virus, a finding that might lead to a treatment that blocks HIV (news - web sites) in people.

Researchers found that once HIV enters monkey cells, it encounters a protein that stifles its attempts to replicate. That stops the virus from spreading in the animal.

"This is really important because it will help build a basis for hammering the virus before it gets started," said Paul Luciw, a University of California at Davis microbiologist who specializes in AIDS research.

The protein, called TRIM5-alpha, was identified in rhesus macaques by a team of Harvard researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. It's not clear exactly how the protein acts again HIV, said Dr. Joseph Sodroski, who led the Harvard study published Thursday in the journal Nature.

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Study: Monkey's Protein Prevents HIV

[rocktivity]

1. So The Chimp might just be good for something after all

:headbang:
rockantion

[Sliverofhope]

2. This is good to hear

I know there have been cases of non-progressors in humans. Perhaps they have some kind of analogue protein that could be replicated.

[Superfly]

3. Monkey Protein Extraction Device (TM)

[prodigal_green]

4. I wonder if this exists in humans too.

My friend's boyfriend has been HIV positive since 1984. He doesn't take any medication and has not gotten sick.

As gruesome as it sounds, I suspect that in the next 40 years or so we'll find a lot of southern Africans who are resistant because they way things are going, they may be the only ones who survive the epidemic.

[cprise]

5. Do his knuckles drag on the ground when he walks?

Is he very hairy?

:evilgrin:

[Spider Jerusalem]

6. Actually, according to what I've read...

this partial resistance to HIV is found pretty much exclusively in people of European ancestry, and most often in people of Northern European ancestry. The cause for the resistance is a genetic mutation.

From an article on the subject: The mutation occurs on the gene for CCR-5, a receptor on the surface of macrophages. When a person becomes infected with HIV, the virus latches onto CCR5 and another protein — CD-4 — to be transported inside the macrophages.

CCR-5 is disabled in people with the full mutation, and so HIV is unable to gain access to the macrophages. If an individual inherits the mutant gene from both parents, they are essentially immune to HIV infection. People with one mutant and one normal gene can be infected, but tend to survive longer than infected people with two normal CCR-5 genes.

[nodehopper]

7. article about sex workers in Africa that showed resistance

There was an article last year in the New Yorker, I believe it was the feature story, about sex workers in Senegal (I think...but maybe I am mixing something up) who are resistant, despite repeated exposure, and seemingly *because* of repeated exposure. Unfortunately I don't have the link, but you could probably find it in New Yorker archives