HIV Basic Science
More Gut Th17 Cells Linked to Better Control of HIV-like Virus in Monkeys
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- Category: HIV Basic Science
- Published on Friday, 08 June 2012 00:00
- Written by UCSF
Rhesus macaque monkeys that had a larger number of a specific type of helper T-cells -- known as TH17 cells -- in their blood and intestinal tissue at the time of infection with SIV (a monkey virus related to HIV) had lower viral load set-points, according to a study published in the May 30, 2012, issue of Science Translational Medicine.
African Study Finds HIV Superinfection May be as Common as Initial Infection
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- Category: HIV Prevention
- Published on Friday, 08 June 2012 00:00
- Written by Liz Highleyman
HIV superinfection may occur much more often than previously believed, and in fact may occur about as often as first-time infections, according to a study from Uganda described in the June 15, 2012, advance online edition of the Journal of Infectious Diseases.
IDSA 2011: CD4 Cell Regeneration Is Impaired in HIV Elite Controllers
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- Category: HIV Basic Science
- Published on Tuesday, 25 October 2011 00:00
- Written by Liz Highleyman
Elite controllers -- the small proportion of HIV positive people who maintain undetectable viral load without antiretroviral therapy (ART) -- may still experience CD4 T-cell depletion and eventual disease progression due to inadequate regeneration of naive T-cells, according to findings presented at the 49th Annual Meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA 2011) this week in Boston.
Researchers Uncover Shell Structure of HIV-like Retrovirus
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- Category: HIV Basic Science
- Published on Tuesday, 05 June 2012 00:00
- Written by Press Release
Tanmay Bharat from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg and colleagues have shed more light on how the Gag polyprotein in retroviruses such as HIV changes as the virus matures. These findings, reported in the June 3, 2012, advance online edition of Nature, offer clues about new targets for antiretroviral therapies.
Cell-Penetrating Peptides Like HIV Tat Have Multiple Ways to Enter Cells
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- Category: HIV Basic Science
- Published on Tuesday, 11 October 2011 00:00
- Written by UCLA
Peptides like the HIV virus Tat protein are able to enter cells using multiple mechanisms, according to a recent laboratory study by researchers at the University of California at San Francisco (UCLA). These peptides have the capacity to carry molecules into cells, which could offer a new approach to targeted delivery of drugs or vaccines.
Researchers Identify Protein that Prevents HIV from Entering Cells
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- Category: HIV Basic Science
- Published on Wednesday, 30 May 2012 00:00
- Written by Press Release
A newly identified protein that inhibits HIV entry into cells may offer a potential new treatment approach, researchers reported in the May 29, 2012, advance online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The CXCL4 protein (not to be confused with the CXCR4 co-receptor on CD4 T-cells) binds directly to HIV, thereby preventing the virus from attaching to human host cells regardless of co-receptor type.
Cholesterol-depleted HIV Triggers Adaptive Immune Response
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- Category: HIV Basic Science
- Published on Friday, 30 September 2011 00:00
- Written by Johns Hopkins
Removing cholesterol from HIV virus particles appears to inhibit their ability to damage CD4 T-cells, but causes them to stimulate an adaptive immune response, researchers reported in the September 9, 2011, advance online edition of the journal Blood. These findings offer clues that could aid the development of a protective HIV vaccine.
Targeted T-cells Derived from Engineered Stem Cells Reduce HIV Viral Load in Mice
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- Category: HIV Basic Science
- Published on Friday, 20 April 2012 00:00
- Written by Press Release
CD8 killer T-cells that evolve from hematopoietic stem cells engineered to attack HIV lowered HIV levels in a mouse study described in the April 12, 2012, issue of PLoS Pathogens.
Gamers Solve Retrovirus Protein Folding Mystery
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- Category: HIV Basic Science
- Published on Friday, 23 September 2011 00:00
- Written by University of Washington
Players of a computer protein folding game have uncovered details about the crystal structure of a retrovirus protease enzyme that has long puzzled researchers, according to report in the September 18, 2011, advance online edition of Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. Better understanding of the protease may provide new insights for the design of antiretroviral drugs.
Cannabinoids May Inhibit CD4 Cell Infection by CXCR4-tropic HIV
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- Category: Alternative & Complementary Therapy
- Published on Friday, 30 March 2012 00:00
- Written by Press Release
Compounds similar to the active components of cannabis (including tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC) inhibited entry and replication of HIV using the CXCR4 coreceptor pathway in a laboratory study, suggesting that marijuana or similar synthetic drugs may have beneficial antiviral effects against CXCR4-tropic virus in people with late-stage HIV infection, according to a study by Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers published in the March 20, 2012, online edition of PLoS ONE.
Does CD8 Cell Activation Affect CD4 Cell Recovery on ART?
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- Category: HIV Basic Science
- Published on Tuesday, 06 September 2011 00:00
- Written by Liz Highleyman
Greater activation of CD8 "killer" T-cells was associated with smaller gains in CD4 "helper" T-cells among people in Uganda who achieved good HIV viral load suppression on antiretroviral therapy (ART), researchers reported in the August 30, 2011, advance online edition of AIDS.
CROI 2012: HIV Superinfections May Happen as Often as First Infections
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- Category: HIV Sexual Transmission
- Published on Tuesday, 13 March 2012 00:00
- Written by Gus Cairns
Two studies of people with HIV in Rakai, Uganda, and Mombasa, Kenya, presented at the 19th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2012) last week in Seattle show that the rate at which they acquired second, subsequent strains of HIV was about the same as the HIV incidence rate in the general population.
Cell-to-Cell Spread of HIV May Help Maintain Viral Reservoir
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- Category: Search for a Cure
- Published on Wednesday, 24 August 2011 00:00
- Written by Press Release
HIV appears able to spread from one infected T-cell to another, according to new research described in the August 17, 2011, advance online edition of Nature. This finding may help explain how HIV is able to establish long-lasting reservoirs that are impervious to current antiretroviral drugs.
Study Shows How Interferon Fights HIV Along with HCV In Coinfected Patients
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- Category: HIV Basic Science
- Published on Tuesday, 06 March 2012 00:00
- Written by Press Release
Interferon, a drug commonly used to treat chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, is also active against HIV, and new research sheds further light on how it works, according to researcher published in the February 21, 2012, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and described in a recent news article from the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF).
Researchers Discover How HIV Neutralizing Antibodies Evolve
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- Category: Immune Response to HIV
- Published on Wednesday, 17 August 2011 00:00
- Written by Liz Highleyman
Researchers have shed further light on the development of broadly neutralizing antibodies against HIV, which are thought to be necessary for immune control and the virus and an effective vaccine, according to a study published in the August 11, 2011, advance online edition of Science.
Researchers Show How SAMHD1 Prevents HIV Replication in Macrophages
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- Category: HIV Basic Science
- Published on Tuesday, 14 February 2012 00:00
- Written by Press Release
A protein known as SAMHD1 (SAM domain and HD domain-containing protein 1) blocks replication of HIV-1 in macrophages and dendritic cells by restricting the availability of deoxynucleoside triphosphates (dNTPs), the building blocks of genetic material, an international team of researchers reported in the February 12, 2012, advance online edition of Nature Immunology.
Gene Therapy Using Modified HIV Hailed as Potential Cancer Cure
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- Category: Search for a Cure
- Published on Friday, 12 August 2011 00:00
- Written by Liz Highleyman
Genetically engineered T-cells altered with a viral vector derived from HIV were able to destroy tumors and induce sustained remission in patients with leukemia -- a technique related to gene therapy currently being tested to protect T-cells from HIV infection.
Identification of Host Cell Proteins 'Hijacked' by HIV Offers Clues to Potential Therapies
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- Category: HIV Basic Science
- Published on Tuesday, 03 January 2012 00:00
- Written by Press Release
Researchers have identified interactions between all 18 HIV proteins and more than 400 host cell proteins using an in vitromass spectrometry method, as described in a pair of reports in the December 21, 2011, advance online edition of Nature.
Engineered Virus Delivers 'Suicide Gene Therapy' to HIV-infected Cells
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- Category: Search for a Cure
- Published on Tuesday, 09 August 2011 00:00
- Written by Press Release
Researchers have developed a lentivirus vector containing the CD4 receptor that can selectively transfer genes only to cells that express HIV envelope proteins, offering the potential for "suicide gene therapy" that targets only infected cells, leaving healthy cells unaffected, researchers reported in the July 23, 2011, issue of Virus Research.
Researchers Discover Protein Key that Allows HIV to Enter Host Cell Nucleus
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- Category: HIV Basic Science
- Published on Tuesday, 20 December 2011 00:00
- Written by Press Release
An international team of investigators has shown how the capsid of HIV-1 binds to a nuclear pore protein in host cells, enabling the virus to enter a cell's nucleus and inject its genetic material into the cell's chromosomes. The research was published in the December 8, 2011, online edition of PLoS Pathogens.
Do Statins Reduce Risk of Death for People with HIV?
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- Category: Inflammation & Immune Activation
- Published on Tuesday, 09 August 2011 00:00
- Written by Liz Highleyman
HIV positive people on suppressive antiretroviral therapy (ART) were significantly less likely to die if they were also taking a statin drug to manage blood lipids, researchers reported in the July 12, 2011, online edition of the open access journal PLoS ONE. The researchers suggested that statins' ability to reduce inflammation may have a survival benefit for people with HIV.
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