gay news net work : reported that French researchers find a new way to target dormant HIV

This biomarker has the potential to be used to target and eliminate HIV reservoirs hidden in the body. Virologist Dr Monsef Benkirane said: "The persistence of the HIV reservoir in infected individuals is a major obstacle to the development of a cure for HIV-1. Now scientists from the Institut de Génétique Humaine (IGH) at Montpellier University, France have discovered a protein that is only present in CD 4 T cells infected with HIV. A problem with finding a cure for HIV – that is, eliminating all virus from the body – is that it can hide in the immune system's CD 4 T cells. "Our discovery that CD32a lymphocytes represent the elusive HIV-1 reservoir may lead to insights that will facilitate the specific targeting and elimination of this reservoir."This means a new generation of attacks that directly target immune cells that host the virus can be made, bringing scientists one step closer to a cure for HIV.

Philippines tries to reverse trend in new HIV detections

The recently-released 2017-2022 Philippine Development Plan under the Duterte administration noted the "substantial increase" in newly-diagnosed HIV cases since 2010. The 33-year-total of recorded HIV cases, including deaths, is already near the 40,000 mark (39,622). HIV cases reported among Filipinos aged 15-to-24 at the time of their being reported reached 10,720 cases. The Philippines is said to be a "low-prevalence" HIV country, with the 39,622 cases well below one percent of the total Philippine population. However, its annual growth rates of HIV infection rate are among the fastest in the Asia-Pacific region, says a December 2016 report by the US-based Human Rights Watch.

Discovery of an HIV reservoir marker : A new avenue toward eliminating the virus

Discovery of an HIV reservoir marker : A new avenue toward eliminating the virusFrench researchers have identified a marker that makes it possible to differentiate "dormant" HIV-infected cells from healthy cells. After comparing infected cells and healthy cells,1 they noticed one particular protein, coded by a gene among the hundred of those expressed in a specific way by infected cells. Present only on the surface of the infected cells, the CD32a protein thus met, in vitro, the criteria of a reservoir cell marker. To envisage eliminating this dormant virus, a first stage consists in distinguishing the HIV-infected reservoir cells from their healthy counterpart cells, which resemble them to a very large degree. This is what has been achieved by a team of researchers, who have identified a marker of reservoir cells: a protein present only on the surface of infected cells.


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