prevents the virus to self-assemble into the infected cell

On, it prevents the virus to self-assemble into the infected cell. Deactivated, it makes the cell insensitive to the action of interferon, antivirus natural product by our organization. With this discovery, a door opens onto a new path therapeutic, but a decade or two of research is still needed ... Called TRIM22 (Tripartite ground-containing 22), this gene encodes a protein localized in the cytoplasm of human cells. According to Stephen Barr and his team at the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Alberta, it is activated prevents the assembly of the AIDS virus in human cells, thus blocking infection at this stage. These results have just been published in the journal PLoS Pathogens. To confirm the function of this gene, researchers have inactivated the expression. The modified cells and no longer meet interferon, the protein produced by the body to fight the virus. "This means that the gene TRIM22 is an essential part of our immune defense. These results are exciting because they show that our body has a gene capable of stopping the spread of HIV, "says Stephen Barr. This gene is activated not only in individuals infected with HIV, and the team is trying to find out why. It might be possible to force the activation of TRIM22. It also wants to explore the interaction between TRIM22 and interferon, for a better understanding, which would perhaps make the cells the ability to respond to interferon signal, even without TRIM22. Other avenues to explore therapeutic The main difficulty in the fight against AIDS is the ability of the virus to mutate, and thus to escape the treatment. Although highly effective antiviral drugs have been developed since the 1990's and continue to be used, they do undermine the multiplication of the virus, not eradicate it. "The discovery of this gene, which is found in its native state in our cells could provide a therapeutic alternative route, which would involve the creation of new medicines, or even vaccines that would prevent HIV transmission between humans as well as its expansion in the body, thus blocking the onset of AIDS, "said Stephen Barr, who feels, however, that 15 to 20 years of research will be needed before a vaccine final, provided that the funding follow . But AIDS is not the only target of the research team, which also investigates TRIM22's ability to fight other types of viruses.