The specific process by which the HIV virus infects healthy T cells was unknown, until now. However, a George Mason University researcher team has now finally revealed the process, with the principal investigator, HIV researcher Yuntao Wu, saying that he hopes this breakthrough will start a new line on inquiry into how researchers can use this knowledge to create drugs that could limit or halt HIV infection.
The study outlined a new understanding on how T cells-which are the target cells that the HIV virus infects-move and migrate when hijacked by the virus.
"The discovery adds to our understanding of how HIV initiates the infection of human T cells, which leads to their eventual destruction and the development of AIDS," said Wu, a professor of molecular and microbiology at Mason.
Researchers and doctors have known for some time that the HIV virus, rather than directly killing healthy T cells, actually hijacks them. This eventually leads to their destruction. So the virus essentially turns the infected T cells (also known as CD4T cells or helper T cells) into a factory for creating even more HIV. Learning more about how the cells are infected could be a key step toward figuring out how to stop infection altogether.
The researchers discovered that LIM domain kinase, or LIMK triggers a cell to move, almost acting like a propeller. This cell movement is essential for HIV infection. This discovery marks the first time that a research team has uncovered the involvement of LIMK in HIV infection.
Building upon these results, the researchers then used a drug to trigger similar LIMK activation and found that it increased infection of T cells. Of course, the researchers ultimately want to decrease the infection of T cells-so they worked backwards and found something very promising.
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In other words, the researchers engineered human T cells that were not easily infected by HIV. This finding suggests that, in the future, drugs could be developed based on LIMK inhibition.
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Source-ANI