Gene Study Identifies 273 Proteins that Help HIV Develop

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Gene Study Identifies 273 Proteins that Help HIV Develop
By Anna Boyd
12:33, January 11th 2008

U.S. researchers using a new genetic screening toll report identified 273 new human proteins that, if blocked, keep the AIDS virus from multiplying and spreading through the human body.


It is already known that current drugs attack the HIV virus itself, this way leaving patients vulnerable to counterattack by the rapidly mutating virus. In August, the government approved the first drug that works by blocking an HIV dependency factor, a cellular doorway called CCR5.


Using a technique called RNA interference, researchers led by geneticist Stephen Elledge of Brigham and Women’s Hospital screened 21,000 human genes that encode proteins, blocking them one at a time and seeing what effect that had on the virus’ ability to infect a cell.


By infecting each of these cell lines with HIV, the researchers were able to see whether a protein was an “HIV dependency factor,” something HIV absolutely must have in order to survive in the human body. The researchers identified 273 human proteins required for HIV infection.


A number of 36 of those proteins had been previously identified by other methods. The researchers also discovered 237 proteins that had not been known to be necessary for HIV attack grow and destroy cells.

“This is likely destined to be one of the best papers on HIV for this coming decade. I think it is terrific,” said Robert C. Gallo, co-discoverer of the AIDS virus, who was not involved in the study.

Elledge said he had great hopes that this study would lead to “an acceleration of research for cures for AIDS,” adding that AIDS needed lots of researchers’ attention as it continues to be an extremely important human health problem.

The researchers said that it would take far more research for figure out the role each of these proteins plays in HIV’s life cycle.

HIV infects about 33.2 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization in Geneva, including about 1 million in the U.S. There is no vaccine against HIV, which mutates constantly to evade drugs, keeping researchers on a constant quest for new treatments.

The research, supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The U.S. National Institutes of Health and the Crohns and Colitis Foundation, was published online by the journal Science Express, Thursday. The findings will be published next month in the journal Science.