AsianScientist (Oct. 11, 2017) – Scientists in Japan have created a synthetic compound that prevents HIV viruses from escaping from host cells. They have published their findings in Scientific Reports.
In recent years, multi-drug therapy has made it possible to suppress HIV multiplication in the body when taken properly. This method, however, cannot remove the virus particles of the latent HIV reservoir—non-replicating virus particles that remain dormant in the cells of the body. As soon as drug administration is stopped, the viral load will again increase in the body. Eliminating the viral reservoir is currently the top priority in AIDS research.
One strategy to kill reservoir cells is the ‘kick and kill’ approach, wherein a drug that targets the reservoir cells activates the virus, which then allows the immune system to find these cells using the activated virus as a landmark. Although this approach was clinically tested, there is still the problem of not being able to efficiently neutralize the virus once it has been activated.
In this study, researchers from Kumamoto University in Japan synthesized a chemical compound called L-HIPPO, which binds strongly to the HIV protein Pr55Gag and suppresses viral budding, the process by which a virus escapes from infected cells.
When L-HIPPO was added to virus-infected cells via a carrier called α-cyclodextrin, the virus became confined within the cell. The infected cell eventually dies through programmed cell death. The researchers at Kumamoto University call this approach ‘Lock-in and apoptosis’.
“Unfortunately, this approach is not immediately available for people infected with HIV,” said Associate Professor Mikako Fujita of Kumamoto University who led the study. “First, we have to improve upon the drugs that activate the virus and combine them with L-HIPPO to efficiently target the viral reservoir. This would be a big step towards a complete recovery from HIV. We believe that our research will help to completely eradicate AIDS.”
The article can be found at: Tateishi et al. (2017) A Clue to Unprecedented Strategy to HIV Eradication: “Lock-in and Apoptosis”.
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Source: Kumamoto University; Photo: Shutterstock.
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