HIV breakthrough
Monday February 1st, 2010
British scientists say they have made a break-through in understanding the AIDS virus, HIV.
The scientists at Imperial College, London, have cracked the secret of the structure of the enzyme responsible for enabling the virus to spread within the body.
The
enzyme called integrase is used by the virus to paste its genetic information
into the DNA of people it infects.
The scientists have now grown a crystal that reveals its structure. They reported their findings in the journal Nature last night.
The researchers say some existing drugs interfere with integrase - but the discovery could help scientists improve them.
Researcher Dr Peter Cherepanov said: "It is a truly amazing story. When we started out, we knew that the project was very difficult, and that many tricks had already been tried and given up by others long ago.
"Therefore, we went back to square one and started by looking for a better model of HIV integrase, which could be more amenable for crystallisation.
"Despite initially painstakingly slow progress and very many failed attempts, we did not give up and our effort was finally rewarded."
Nature January 31 2010
Tags: Flu & Viruses | UK News
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