Researchers Identify Anti-HIV Proteins
- Joan Stephenson, PhD
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
San Diego—Scientists have long sought to learn why in some HIV-infected individuals, known as long-term nonprogressors, the immune system is able to successfully keep the virus in check and substantially delay or prevent progression to AIDS. As far back as 1986, AIDS researcher Jay Levy, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco, had evidence that white blood cells of long-term nonprogressors (but not those of progressors) produce an unknown chemical or chemicals that inhibit viral replication. But the identity of such a substance—called CD8 antiviral factor, or CAF—remained elusive.
Now, researchers at Rockefeller University's Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in New York City say they have identified components of that elusive factor: a family of HIV-suppressing proteins produced by the CD8 T cells of long-term nonprogressors. The new findings, reported here at the 42nd Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy by David D. Ho, MD, were also …
