Study shows promising new approach to thwart HIV

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers have pinpointed a protein in a key human immune system cells needed for the AIDS virus to infect them, and found that turning it off can greatly slow down the deadly virus.

Inactivating a protein called ITK in immune system cells called T cells reduces HIV's ability to enter these cells and replicate itself, the researchers said on Monday.

A drug based on this approach could be useful as a complement to existing drugs used to treat HIV infection, said Andrew Henderson of Boston University, one of the researchers.

It might also perhaps help battle problems with drug resistance, added Dr. Pamela Schwartzberg of the National Human Genome Research Institute, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, another of the researchers.

See Study shows promising new approach to thwart HIV
Reuters