Finding may lead to treatment to prevent infection in people
Oregon Health and Science University / AP
Scientists say they've discovered how some monkeys, similar to these rhesus macaques at the Oregon National Primate Research Center, resist infection with HIV.
~SNIP~
The Associated Press
Updated: 4:11 p.m. ET Feb. 25, 2004Scientists say they’ve discovered how some monkeys resist infection with the AIDS virus, a finding that might lead to a treatment that blocks HIV in people.
Researchers found that once HIV enters monkey cells, it encounters a protein that stifles its attempts to replicate. That stops the virus from spreading in the animal.
“This is really important because it will help build a basis for hammering the virus before it gets started,” said Paul Luciw, a University of California at Davis microbiologist who specializes in AIDS research.
The protein, called TRIM5-alpha, was identified in rhesus macaques by a team of Harvard researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. It’s not clear exactly how the protein acts against HIV, said Dr. Joseph Sodroski, who led the Harvard study published Thursday in the journal Nature.
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link:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4370521/