Discover hundreds of proteins of people who are taking advantage of HIV virus

With only a few very basic components, the HIV virus can cause extremely terrible consequences. Consisting of 9 genes encoding 15 types of proteins but devastating the human immune system, but its attack method makes a serious mistake. Because of the lack of sophisticated apparatus, the HIV virus must appropriate human proteins to multiply the numbers so that we can discover effective HIV treatments.

By using RNA interference to test thousands of genes, Harvard Medical University scientists (HMS) have found that HIV requires 273 proteins in the human body to multiply the number - a significant number never before. mentioned in previous studies on HIV. The existing drug on the market used to treat only interact directly with the virus itself. For viruses that are able to rapidly change, this is quite simple to avoid being destroyed by changing the way drugs interact. Some patients take cocktails with HIV inhibitors because it is difficult for the virus to resist many drugs at the same time. However, there are still some strains of HIV that are still resistant to some drugs, especially for patients who do not maintain their diet, the more resistant the virus is.

Professor Stephen Elledge, a professor and principal author of the HMS study, said: 'Currently antiviral drugs still work very well in prolonging the lives of patients. But every drug has the same problem, that is, drug resistance. That's why we decided to choose a different approach to the proteins of humans who are taking advantage of HIV. Since then drugs that interact with these proteins will make the virus impossible to change. '

The two above images, the HIV virus (red) attacks human cells (blue stained cell DNA). The lower two images, the lower HIV rate because the researchers intervened in the production of a protein in human cells is TNPO3. (Photo: Image courtesy of Harvard Medical University (HMS)).

The worldwide lab has contributed a great part to helping us understand the life cycle of the HIV virus. Over the past two decades, scientists have identified dozens of human proteins (also known as host factors), which are needed in the process of multiplying the number of HIV viruses. New research on this issue included a four-fold number of host factors, including proteins involved in a variety of cell functions from protein transport to the process of cell destruction.

Elledge, a member of HMS, a Center for Genetic and Genetic Medicine and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, said: 'The list is hypothetically expanded like a genetic machine. Scientists can look at the list to figure out why the HIV virus needs a specific protein, thereby testing this hypothesis. ' He hopes the research will bring new therapeutic therapies. To get the list, Abraham Brass, the postdoctoral researcher and first author of the study, worked with Derek Dyxkhoorn and Nan Yan in Professor Judy Lieberman's lab (HSM). First, they interfere with the activity of sARN for a short time towards specific human genes. Each sARN inhibits the activity of a gene coding for a protein.

With the help of a fellow at the Institute of Cellular Chemistry and Biology at Longwood, Brass implanted sARN into thousands of human cells. Each disc contains the same cells lacking a certain protein. He then inserted the HIV virus into these cells. If viral reproduction is inhibited, it means that the missing protein is involved in the replication of the HIV virus.

Of the 273 proteins found, only 36 were previously ' suspected ' to participate in the virus lifecycle. Brass has chosen three proteins to be included in the host and then conducted a careful genetic experiment to demonstrate that these three proteins are actually involved in the replication of the HIV virus.

Another proof for the value of the main host element list is immune cells - the first attacking HIV cells. They contain large amounts of many of the 273 proteins mentioned above.

Elledge said: 'We are moving towards a systematic understanding of the HIV virus that opens up new therapeutics. We can control different parts of the system to inhibit viral replication without damaging human cells'.

Brass added: 'This is the first general gene test of proteins in the human body that the HIV virus needs. We believe research will achieve real results. When we implemented this method, we neglected some proteins, but most of the types we found were important in the process of HIV virus replication in numbers'.

The study was supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and funded by Harvard University and the AIDS Research Center.