HIV breakthrough - MRC
Thursday August 11th, 2016
British researchers have announced a major discovery about HIV - opening
the way for new treatments.
The discovery reveals how the virus acquires genetic material, "sucking"
it in at high speed from its host.
Scientists at University College London and the Medical Research Council
laboratory of molecular biology in Cambridge reported their findings in
Nature.
This shows there are pores in the capsid - the protein shell - of the
virus and that these operate like eyes, blinking open and shut at great
speed to pull in nucleotides.
The researchers also unveiled a new chemical, hexacarboxybenzene, that
can stop this process.
The chemical cannot easily be converted into a drug as it cannot cross
the cell membrane of human cells.
The researchers say the mechanism may be found in other viruses - making
the vulnerable to any effective treatment.
Researcher Dr Leo James said: "We used to think that the capsid
came apart as soon as the virus entered a cell but now realise that the
capsid protects the virus from our innate immune system.
"The channels we've discovered explain how the fuel for replication
gets into the capsid to allow the viral genome to be made."
Fellow researcher Dr David Jacques said: "We have already designed
a prototype inhibitor that directly targets the channel. We predict that
this feature may be common to other viruses and will be an attractive
target for new antiviral drugs, including new treatments for HIV and related
viruses."
Jaques et al. HIV-1 uses dynamic capsid pores to import
nucleotides and fuel encapsidated DNA synthesis. Nature 10 August 2016
[abstract]
Tags: Flu & Viruses | Genetics
| UK News
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1At 23/10/2017 08:47am Cristina Pereira wrote
https://epidemicj17.imascientist.org.uk/2017/06/21/what-is-the-best-breakthrough-in-any-virus-you-have-found-not-just-hiv-maybe-even-cancer/
