First of all sorry for the title, but it is known that the statements with double meanings (especially sexual) attract a wider audience to read the Blog. In order to prevent the pathogens of diseases, immune cells must be mobile and able to make contact with others. The working group of Prof. Dr. Oliver Fackler, Department of Virology of the Institute of Hygiene, Heidelberg University Hospital have discovered a mechanism in an animal model that shows how HIV, the pathogen of AIDS, weakens the immune cells affecting their mobility by the viral protein Nef.
The study was published in the journal Cell Host & Microbe and the discovery may have opened the way for a new approach to treating AIDS.
Typically, after initial infection, accompanied by acute symptoms, there is a latency period of several years before acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is manifested. The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has developed numerous strategies to evade the body’s defenses and administered medications. The prerequisite for the efficient reproduction of the virus in the patient’s body is the Nef protein of the virus itself. Without Nef, the development of AIDS significantly slower or even stop completely. The mechanism underlying this observation was a mystery until now.
HIV modifies the cell structure system of the host cells:
Just as humans have all cells have a similar structure called the cytoskeleton and mainly composed of actin protein ls. The researchers found that HIV alter the support structures of the cytoskeleton of the affected cells, allowing them to enter cells more easily. This affects the movement of immune cells and the ability to make contact with other immune cells to fight the virus.
The researchers examined the movement of cells in embryos of zebrafish of life and were able to demonstrate that the mobility of the cell is inhibited by HIV Nef protein. As they continued their experiments in cell cultures, were able to explain the underlying mechanism: Nef causes a short circuit of the cellular mechanisms, thereby inhibiting the reorganization of the actin component of the cell structure and capacity of cell to move. Thus, the immune cells affected can no longer fulfill their function.
