Scientists target new protein for HIV treatment

A protein that helps in the advance of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), which can lead to it becoming AIDS, has been identified. The discovery could help in the development of a new drug that will compliment current drug cocktails that are used to treat HIV.

Drug cocktails are currently used to reduce the symptoms of HIV and to slow its progress. These cocktails tend to target three particular enzymes that are produced by the virus, which usually have positive results. However, strains of HIV do occur that are resistant to these drugs, meaning that the virus is able to progress faster.

In an attempt to find another way to treat the virus and reduce the likelihood of currently used drug-resistant strains from causing more problems, researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, and the National Institute of Health began to focus on a fourth enzyme that is produced by HIV. 

Nef is an enzyme that functions by hijacking a host protein and is a vital element in the lethality of HIV. A high-resolution image of the Nef enzyme bound with a main host protein was captured by the researchers, which showed a part of the host protein that could prove to be a good target for new HIV drugs. The scientists suggest that by using drug treatments to block this key area of the host protein, the advance of Nef - and therefore the advance of HIV - could be slowed or stopped.

James Hurley, structural biologist and professor of Molecular and cell biology, said: “We have imaged the molecular details for the first time. Having these details in hand puts us in striking distance of designing drugs to block the binding site and, in doing so, block HIV infectivity.”

Previous research - performed almost 20 years ago - found that Nef is a vital part of HIV and that if the virus is unable to produce it, it is less infective. Many patients that are infected with a strain of HIV that is Nef-defective have been able to live for decades without developing any problems.