Science: The human body has a natural alarm system against HIV

February 6, 2021 // -- In a study published February 4 in the journal Science, researchers at washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis identified a potential way to eliminate potential HIV infections lurking inside infected immune cells.
researchers studied human immune cells and found that they have a natural alarm system that detects the activity of specific HIV proteins.
strategy attacks the virus not based on its appearance( the basis of most immunotherapy), but on the role of the virus (i.e., the important activities required for the virus to exist).
Liang Shan, senior professor and author of the paper (Photo source: www.pixabay.com), said: "We have determined that a part of the immune system can identify and attack the core function of HIV, regardless of the degree of mutation.
this increases the likelihood of removing all sleeping viruses from a single patient.
patients, even if they are consistent with the treatment and have no symptoms, treatment that may change their HIV status from positive to negative can have a huge impact on their lives.
" this strategy relies on detecting the activity of specific proteins (HIV proteases) required for virus replication and transmission.
researchers identified a natural alarm system, located in human immune cells called CARD8 inflammatory small bodies, that identifies active HIV proteases and triggers self-destructive procedures to eliminate infected cells.
, HIV can be present in cells for a long time without triggering an alarm.
HIV protease is inactive and low when it enters the cell, and card8 inflammatory small bodies cannot detect it.
and colleagues have shown that some drugs force HIV proteases to show up prematurely when the virus is still in immune cells.
, the active HIV protease triggers CARD8 inflammatory small bodies, triggering a series of events that destroy infected cells and viruses and the viruses associated with them.
S. Shan said, "We found that our immune system recognizes this critical protein function, not the protein sequence, and the virus constantly changes the protein sequence through mutations."
HIV protease cannot mutate because its function is necessary to complete the life cycle of the virus.
otherwise, it is a dead virus.
the specific effect of HIV protease on the virus is also the specific effect of CARD8.
our findings suggest that our immune system can recognize the protein function of the virus and, where appropriate, use that information to kill HIV-infected cells.
" one of the drugs that makes HIV protease active is called efavirenz (trade name Sustiva).
it is a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTIs) drug that has been used to treat HIV since the 1990s.
long used these drugs to stop HIV from inserting its genetic material into new cells," shan said.
it's their daily job.
now, we know they have a second function - activating HIV proteases in infected cells.
When we treat HIV-infected human T-cells with this drug, proteases are activated before the virus successfully leaves the infected person, triggering card8 inflammatory small bodies, and infected cells die within hours.
is a potential way to remove viruses that we have never completely eliminated.
" () Source: Human immune cells have natural alarm system against HIV Original source: "CARD8 is an inflammasome sensor for HIV-1 protease activity" Science (2021). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi ... 1126/science.abe1707