Detection of gene variants that slow AIDS development

According to US scientists, HIV patients with specific gene variants will have a slower transition to AIDS than those in the same situation but without these variants.

According to research by experts from the US National Cancer Institute in Mariland, important gene variants in one type of human immune cell and one that controls this cell in humans are possible. ability to slow the progression of AIDS in HIV-infected patients.

These variants are found in two types of genes, a gene that produces receptors in immune cells named KIR3DL1 and a gene that produces signaling molecules called HLA-B.

This study contributes to the different stages of AIDS in HIV-infected patients.(Photo: In the News)

In a study of 1,500 people infected with HIV, the team found that in patients with specific variants in both genes, the transition to AIDS took place much more slowly than those There are no variations. In addition, the number of HIV viruses in the blood of those with those variants is also less.

Conducted under the guidance of expert Mary Carrington and published in Nature Genetics, this study focuses on cells capable of 'destroying nature' , ie T-shaped immune cells. produced by the immune system to kill viruses that invade the body.

T-cells that are ordered to function or stop working by the receptor KIR3DL1 are located on their surface, and the receptor is activated by the HLA-B molecule signaling from the immune system. .

According to another study published in Nature Immunology, HIV blocked HLA-B signaling, making it easy to access, invade and destroy T-shaped immune cells without being detected by muscle. love.

Meanwhile, in patients with these variants, the combination of these variants disables HIV's ability to ' lock ' the HLA-B signaling pathways, making HIV cannot freely penetrate T-shaped immune cells, thus limiting the development of HIV and slowing the process of transitioning from HIV infection to AIDS.

This study contributes to explain why time of AIDS is very different in HIV-infected patients. According to the United Nations HIV / AIDS Program, there are about 39.5 million people infected with HIV worldwide and in 2006 about 3 million people died of AIDS.

Minh Quang