Monday, November 24, 2014

HIV-1 Resistant Genes


HIV-1 sickens some individuals rapidly, however, it has difficulty sickening others. There may be a genetic reason for this, if so it could be decoded and open many new treatment options for those effected. University of Minnesota researchers have been recently studying this issue and published work in PLOSGenetics on uncovering at least a small piece of this ongoing puzzle. This gives the science field hope for future discovers.
                HIV-1 invades immune systems called T lymphocytes and attacks molecular systems, eventually leading to the death of the host cell. This leaves the affected person with a destroyed immune system that is useless when it comes to fighting off diseases. T lymphocytes are a part of the APOBEC3s anti-body proteins that can stop HIV-1’s ability to replicate. HIV-1 has a Vif protein to counteract our body’s T lymphocytes defense. This make the disease more deadly and much more complicated to fight.
                Researchers have found that HIV-1 causes an increase in the production of APOBEC3s and APOBEC3H proteins. This gives us a hint that these two proteins are key in fighting HIV-1. Through separation of function mutagens, researchers found that some people have different levels of these proteins compared to others. Stable versions of these proteins were able to fight off HIV-1 virus with weak Vif, however, it could not fight off HIV-1 viruses with weak Vif. This shows that the virus has not fully evolved and perfected itself in attacking humans. Finding the link between APOBEC3s and APOBEC3H proteins in relation to fighting Vif can open doors for new medication and maybe even lead to a cure in the future.

1 comment:

  1. This research is promising and the fact the a cure could be in the near future is exciting. These findings offer a lot of hope to people living with HIV and could prevent more cases in the future.

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