Health News
2005-08-13
German scientists
discover new HIV weakness
German
researchers say they’ve discovered a key peptide that
prevents HIV from assembling its protective outer
German
researchers say they’ve discovered a key peptide that
prevents HIV from assembling its protective outer
coating, which leaves the virus incapable of latching
onto and infecting other immune system cells, Deutsche
Presse-Agentur reports. The peptide was completely effective
in lab tests at preventing HIV from assembling its
outer membrane, but it cannot be used in its present
form as an anti-HIV drug or vaccine because of
difficulties in getting the peptide into HIV-infected immune
system cells in the body. However, scientists hope to
use their discovery as the foundation for research
into new drugs that will affect the virus’s
ability to form its outer membrane. Their full study appears
in the online edition of the journal Nature
Structural and Molecular Biology.
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