Michigan State University Researchers Discover Natural Defence Against HIV

Scientists found that the protein ERManI prevents HIV from replicating, hence, ERManI is an essential key, that has the potential as a antiretroviral treatment.

Researchers at Michigan State University have discovered a protein, ERManI, that may slow the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), thereby revealing a target for developing natural therapies against the deadly virus.

"In earlier studies, we knew that we could interfere with the spread of HIV-1, but we couldn't identify the mechanism that was stopping the process," said study co-author Yong-Hui Zheng, associate professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at Michigan State University in the US.

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The researchers found that the protein ERManI prevents the HIV virus from replicating.

"We now know that ERManI is an essential key, and that it has the potential as a antiretroviral treatment," Zheng noted.

Currently, there is no cure for HIV-1. Once patients have it, they have it for life. While there are antiretroviral therapies available, they can only prolong life, albeit dramatically, but they cannot cure the disease.

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Current drug treatments have to be taken for a lifetime, which causes side effects and many other issues, Zheng said. "We see a way to treat this disease by helping the body protect itself," he noted.

While it could be decades before an ERManI-based treatment can be prescribed for HIV-1 patients, these results provide a strong path for future research involving human cells, and later, clinical tests.

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The next steps will be to test if HIV resistance can be promoted by increasing ERManI levels, Zheng pointed out.

The findings were detailed in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

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Source-IANS