Study Finds New Line of Defense in Constant Battle Against HIV
MU researcher helps discover a way to prevent the virus’ ability to mutate
Trying to stop HIV early in its life cycle by preventing the virus from entering the body’s cells and fusing is the job of drugs called fusion inhibitors. Currently, the last line of defense – T20 – eventually fails as the virus mutates. A new study from researchers at the University of Missouri and Kyoto University in Japan shows that a modification to T20 can deliver a preemptive strike to the virus’ ability to escape this drug. This new finding could give patients more options to stay healthy for a longer period of time.
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Dr. Sarafianos
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“Fighting HIV is a catch-up game,” said Stefan Sarafianos, PhD, assistant professor of microbiology and immunology in the MU School of Medicine and Bond Life Sciences Center. “We are in an arms race with the virus and constantly have to update our arsenal of therapeutics because the virus is a moving target that continuously changes shape through mutations. This new study shows that we may have found a next generation fusion inhibitor.”
Early in its life cycle, HIV tries to enter a host cell in the body and fuse with the cell in order to start replicating and integrating into the DNA.
There is one common HIV mutation that appears in patients under prolonged T20 therapy. The mutation helps the virus escape T20, but with a reduced ability to replicate. Eventually, the virus acquires a second mutation that allows it to replicate at its original ability. In this new study, researchers designed a modified version of T20 that is able to block the original virus and its mutated forms.
“The new variant of T20 could provide more options for treating patients infected with multi-drug resistant strains,” Sarafianos said. “This stage in the HIV life cycle provides a huge opportunity for intervention. We try to think ahead about what the virus is going to and design something that not only helps with what is currently happening in the body but also prevents what might occur in the future.”
The study will be featured on the cover of the Feb. 20 issue of The Journal of Biological Chemistry. It was done in collaboration with researchers from the Institute for Virus Research at Kyoto University in Japan.
