Caltech Scientists Uncover Structure of Key Protein in HIV Subgroup

Caltech researchers (California Institute of Technology) have successfully identified the structure of key protein in common HIV subgroup.

The boffins have provided the first-ever glimpse of the structure of a key protein-gp120-found on the surface of a specific subgroup of the human immunodeficiency virus, HIV-1. In addition, they demonstrated that a particular antibody to gp120 makes contact not only with the protein, but with the CD4 receptor that gp120 uses to gain entrance into the body's T cells.

This three-dimensional understanding of how gp120 is built is more than just a basic scientific advance.

"There's a tremendous continuing effort to develop a vaccine for HIV," says Caltech postdoctoral scholar Ron Diskin, "and most of those efforts use gp120. Having more structural information will facilitate better vaccine design."

The findings are detailed in a paper published in the advance online edition of the journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology.

Source-ANI
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