A team of French researchers may have found the next step in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
On Thursday, the Pasteur Institute in Paris published a study in the scientific journal Cell Metabolism titled “Cellular Metabolism Is a Major Determinant of HIV-1 Reservoir Seeding in CD4+ T Cells and Offers an Opportunity to Tackle Infection.”
Until now, treatment towards HIV/AIDS has only been able to block the infection from spreading. Researchers from the Pasteur Institute say they’ve found a way to eliminate the cells entirely.
Researchers have yet to find a cure to the virus because they can’t figure out why it spreads to certain cells and not others. Specifically, CD4 T lymphocyte immune cells are the reservoirs that are primarily targeted by HIV. Scientists have yet to figure out the reason why some CD4 cells are targeted by the virus over others.
Researchers at the Pasteur Institute say that they might have figured out why. Their data shows that the glucose consumption of the cells play a key role in why they are susceptible to HIV. The higher the metabolic activity and glucose consumption, the higher the chance of HIV infection to the cell.
If this data can be backed up and verified, it can categorize infected cells and signify a weak point in the virus.
"We have observed ex vivo that, thanks to certain metabolic inhibitors, the virus is no longer able to infect cells and amplification is halted in reservoirs of patients receiving antiretroviral treatment,” noted study coordinator Asier Saez-Cirion.
Again, the study’s data has to be tested with in-vivo (in a living organism) experiments before progressing with possible treatment. That said, this is a promising breakthrough in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Have a look at a little
Have a look at a little company in AUS called Biotron ASX BIT there compound Bit225 it quite impressive in this area!.
Wouldn’t this be similar to
Wouldn't this be similar to chemotherapy in which the most rapidly reproducing cells are targeted? What will the short- and long-term effects of a systemic metabolic inhibitor? Don't existing HIV treatments already result in damage to mitochondrial DNA?
Because the best way to get
Because the best way to get into medical science is through the comments sextion of Instinct magazine…
Well….maybe. The French ARE
Well….maybe. The French ARE great when it comes to medical research.
Aren’t the French responsible
Aren’t the French responsible for identifying the HIV virus and how to test for it?
Yes in 1983, two French
Yes in 1983, two French virologists, Prof. Luc Montagnier, a long time researcher at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, now full time professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China and Prof Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Director of the Regulation of Retroviral Infections Division at the Pasteur Institute, Paris.
Thanks. You answered better
Thanks. You answered better than I could.