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Breakthrough in Aids research
17/10/2003 19:38 - (SA)
Washington - US researchers have identified a series of proteins that enable HIV to bypass the human body's natural anti-viral defences and multiply, a discovery they say could lead to new treatment drugs for HIV and Aids.
"We've discovered a new link in the chain that allows the HIV to overcome the cellular resistant factor and to infect human cells," Doctor Xiao-Fang Yu, associate professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, wrote in the on-line edition of Science magazine.
"By identifying the proteins involved in this process, we may be able to develop new drugs and therapies for preventing HIV infection," wrote Xiao-Fang Yu, who headed a research team that identified the proteins through a series of complex laboratory experiments.
According to the study, the Aids virus contains a viral infection factor essential to escaping the human body's natural anti-viral agent.
To circumvent this protective agent, HIV acts in conjunction with a group of proteins to modify and disable the anti-viral agent, said the research team.
- AFP
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HIV/Aids Special Report
