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Protein may lead to HIV vaccine
CAROLINE ALPHONSO
March 4, 2008
Researchers in Canada and the United States have made a breakthrough discovery in the fight against HIV infection: a protein that can limit the viral attack.
The study, published in the online edition of Nature Medicine, found that the protein FOX03a not only can limit the deterioration of certain disease-fighting immune cells, but could help with the development of an HIV vaccine.
HIV is characterized by the deterioration of T-cells, or central memory cells that orchestrate the body's ability to fight the disease. HIV attacks these cells.
Researchers from the University of Montreal, McGill University Health Centre and BD BioSciences of San Diego, Calif., combined forces to look at ways to limit the deterioration of memory T-cells.
They studied three groups of men. One group was HIV-negative, the second was HIV-positive with the infection controlled through therapy, and the third group had HIV but did not show any symptoms.
This third group, called elite controllers, were key. Researchers hoped that by solving the mystery of how these individuals could co-exist with this virus without damage to their immune system could potentially form the basis of a vaccine.
The researchers found the elite controllers were able to ward off the symptoms of infection without medication because their immune systems maintained their resilient immune memory through the control of the FOX03a protein.
Elias Haddad, a researcher at the University of Montreal and co-author of the study, said this protein in the nucleus of T-cells can induce generation of molecules that lead to the cells' death. Inhibiting this action could prevent premature T-cell death.
"We were able to do this and restore or rescue memory cells from chronic infection so that they now become similar to those of elite controllers," Dr. Haddad said in an interview.
About 1 per cent of HIV-infected individuals become elite controllers.
He said this research is important because now scientists can look to "reverse the premature death of memory cells during chronic HIV infection."
Not only does this new finding help in treating HIV, the research team says it allows scientists to develop therapies for other viral diseases, including hepatitis C and cancers.
"It's not only HIV. It even has bigger implications on cancer. The objective is really to increase the capacity of these memory T-cells to survive longer and give more time of these cells to fight against infection and cancer," he said.
