BETHESDA, Md., May 1 (UPI) -- A U.S. research group says it has found a new way to treat the human immunodeficiency virus that might circumvent problems with drug resistance.
The researchers said they blocked HIV in the test tube by inactivating a human protein expressed in key immune cells.
The scientists -- led by Dr. Pamela Schwartzberg, a senior investigator at the National Human Genome Research Institute, and Andrew Henderson of Boston University -- said most drugs used to fight HIV target the virus's own proteins. However, because HIV has a high rate of genetic mutation, those viral targets change quickly and lead to the emergence of drug-resistant viral strains.
In the new study, the scientists found that when they interfered with a human protein called interleukin-2-inducible T cell kinase, or ITK, they inhibited HIV infection of key human immune cells, called T cells.
"This new insight represents an important contribution to HIV research," said institute Scientific Director Dr. Eric Green. "Finding a cellular target that can be inhibited so as to block HIV ... is an exciting model for deriving potential new HIV therapies."
The study appears in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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