Detecting new proteins that block HIV virus

US researchers have discovered a new protein in the blood of patients with HIV infection that has the ability to inhibit the development of this deadly virus, according to IANS news agency.

>>>Discovering the molecule that infects HIV in humans

The head of the research team, Dr. Paolo Lusso of the US Institute of Infectious Diseases and Infectious Diseases (US), said the new protein called CXCL4 or PF-4 is in the protein group that helps control the movement of Immune cells around the body.

In the mid-1990s, researchers discovered four proteins of the group, including three proteins discovered by Mr. Lusso and his colleagues, which function to inhibit the HIV virus.

These proteins, as well as CXCL4, can control viral replication in HIV-infected people, affecting viral growth.

However, CXCL4 and the four previously discovered proteins have many differences. For example, CXCL4 directly intercepts the outer layer of the HIV virus, while the other proteins inhibit the infection of the virus by blocking one of the two receptor cells called CCR5 and CXCR4 that the virus uses to invade. immune cells.

According to Dr. Lusso, the position of CXCL4 interferes with the outer envelope of the HIV virus does not seem to be the same as other sites that are targets of drugs or antibodies against the virus.

Lusso's group and some other scientists are determining this location, which has an atomic-level crystal structure. Since then, researchers have been able to find more effective ways to treat or prepare vaccines against HIV.