Why are some people immune to HIV-1?
Release date: 2014-11-26 Doctors have long been confused about why HIV-1 can quickly worsen the condition of some patients, while in others it is difficult for the virus to “get a firm footholdâ€. Now by studying the genetic variation of HIV-1 and infected cells, researchers at the University of Minnesota have discovered that the gap in the armor of HIV-1, at least in part, is puzzling and may help develop new treatments. Related research is published in the journal PLOS Genetics. HIV-1 invades T lymphocytes, hijacks such cells, creates more HIV, and then destroys host cells, making infected people more susceptible to other deadly diseases. However, T lymphocytes are not a live target. Their antiviral defense mechanism is a class of APOBEC3s proteins that have the ability to block HIV-1 replication. However, HIV-1 has a protein called Vif that fights against the T cell's defense mechanism and destroys the TBP itself's APOBEC3. The researchers found that HIV-1 infection increases the production of an APOBEC3 protein, APOBEC3H, suggesting that APOBEC3H is a key member of the HIV-resistant T cell defense mechanism. Then, the study found that different human APOBEC3H have different advantages/efficiencies, some APOBEC3H proteins are stably expressed, and some APOBEC3H proteins have inherent instability. The researchers found that stable expression of APOBEC3H can successfully limit HIV-1 replication. The work shows that the competition between the virus and the host is still in progress, the main researcher Refsland said: the virus has not fully improved its ability to replicate in the human body. After understanding the multifaceted interactions between VIF and APOBEC3, Harris said: The next step is to figure out how to prevent the Vif protein from destroying the APOBEC3 enzyme. Source: Bio Valley Ningbo Siny Medical Technology Co., Ltd , https://www.sinymedical.com