Must Read: New Study Reveals How Antibody Treatment Led To Lasting HIV-Like Virus Remission!

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 A recent study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health has found the effect of the presence of a protein called alpha-4 beta-7 integrin on the surface of HIV and its monkey equivalent - simian immunodeficiency virus, or SIV. The researchers discovered that the protein could provide a better understanding of why an antibody protected monkeys from SIV in previous experiments.

The researchers reported in October 2016 that they had achieved sustained SIV remission in monkeys using a monkey antibody similar to the human drug vedolizumab, which is already approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.

However, it is already clear to scientists that alpha-4 beta-7 integrin is a gut-homing receptor present at higher levels in the immune system cells that HIV and SIV preferably infect. The researchers of the current study found that maturing HIV and SIV particles acquire alpha-4 beta-7 as they emerge from an infected cell.

These findings thus, provide the researchers with a new target for HIV prevention, treatment and how the disease develops, according to Science Daily. "We expected the antibody to attack alpha-4 beta-7 on immune cells and reduce their movement to the gut, where HIV and SIV typically decimate the cells early in infection," co-author and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. said.

He added that his team discovered that anti-alpha-4 beta-7 antibody binds not only to cells but also to HIV and SIV. Their findings could provide a better explanation for their previous findings that SIV-infected monkeys treated with antibody, alpha-4 beta-7 and antiretroviral therapy effectively controlled the virus long after all treatment ended.

HIV and SIV acquire their envelopes from the membranes of the cells from which they emerge, capturing some cellular proteins in the process. The researchers found HIV buds from membranes of immune cells, specifically where alpha-4 beta-7 is concentrated and incorporates alpha-4 beta-7 into its envelope protein. These allow the virus hijack a cellular protein and then sharpen its assault on the immune system.

The researchers subsequently conducted experiments to help them understand the effect and prevalence of the alpha-4 beta-7 protein on the HIV envelope. They experimented in a mouse model that HIV bearing the protein homes to the gut and also demonstrated in cell culture that HIV infects alpha-4 beta-7-recognizing gut cells.

It was also demonstrated in their neighbors in a dramatically efficient manner when the virus bears the protein compared to when it does not. In addition, they showed that blood samples taken from 12 SIV-infected monkeys and 33 HIV-infected people at different times all had at least some virus bearing alpha-4 beta-7, according to Eurekalert.

They also noted that the percentage of virus particles with the protein was more in blood samples taken at the early stage of the infection - a period when the virus multiplies in the rich alpha-4 beta-7 immune cells of the gut. Judging from their findings, the researchers believe that the protein is important for the initial phase of infection, which in turn has a huge influence on the subsequent development of HIV disease.

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