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In new research, scientists have identified a protein in human immune system cells that HIV needs to infect the cells, a discovery that could lead to the development of a new drug to fight the virus.

The research team interfered with interleukin-2-inducible T cell kinase, or ITK. The protein alerts T-cells to come to the body's defense against invaders like viruses. Once HIV takes over T-cells, it forces them to make viral copies.

In the lab, working with human cells, the team inactivated ITK using two methods: small interfering RNAs, or siRNAS, which can stop certain genes from functioning; and the drug BMS509744, which is known to interfere with the protein but had not been evaluated in the context of HIV. Both methods were successful.

"We didn't completely block [infection] but we certainly severely impaired it. It has minor effects at multiple stages of the HIV life cycle, and together that all adds up to a more profound effect," researchers said.

Although human trials of any drug designed to fight HIV by inhibiting ITK could be years away, the National Institutes of Health and the researchers have filed a patent on the concept of using ITK for this purpose.

from Reuters