by Jason Stotts
According to the BBC, a new article in Science may point the way to a future without HIV/AIDS.
The researchers carried out a genome-wide association study of the genetic make-up of almost 1,000 controllers and 2,600 people with progressive HIV.
Around 300 points were found to be associated with immune control of HIV, all in regions of chromosome six that code for HLA proteins.
Scientists were then able to pinpoint specific amino acids and identified the five in the HLA-B protein as playing the key role.
HLA-B is part of the process by which the immune system recognises and destroys virus-infected cells.
Part of the protein called a binding pocket “drags and drops” peptides from inside the virus onto the cell membrane.
These then mark out the cell for destruction by CD8 “killer” T cells in the immune system.
This means that if they can manipulate that gene to turn on in people in whom it is not active, so that they could produce the right kind of HLA protein, then these people’s bodies would seek out and destroy HIV on their own. They would become immune to the virus.
Now, this is still a long way from becoming a reality, but the foundational research is beginning to come together and we may see and end to HIV/AIDS in our lifetime.