AI Summary
Researchers at the University of Michigan have developed modified chemical compounds with anti-HIV activity by targeting the virus's Nef protein. The study offers new possibilities for drug development that could potentially lead to a cure for HIV, rather than just treatment. HIV's ability to remain hidden in infected cells is due in part to the Nef protein, which prevents the immune system from recognizing and clearing the virus. By disabling this protein, researchers aim to allow the immune system to eliminate the virus.
A team of University of Michigan researchers has successfully modified a naturally occurring chemical compound in the lab, resulting in advanced lead compounds with anti-HIV activity.
Their results, published March 7 in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, offer a new path forward in the development of drugs that could potentially help cure-;rather than treat-;HIV.
Although effective treatments are available to manage HIV, a cure has remained elusive due to the virus’s ability to hide from the immune system, lying dormant in reservoirs of infected cells.
With most viruses, when people get infected, they get sick for a while and then the immune system kicks in and the virus is cleared. But with HIV, once a patient is infected, that virus will persist for their entire life-;meaning they must remain on treatments indefinitely.”
Kathleen Collins, Professor, Microbiology and Immunology, University of Michigan
One key to HIV’s ability to remain hidden in patients’ cells is a protein that the virus makes, called Nef. This protein shuts down a system that the cell would normally use to alert the immune system to an infection, thus preventing the immune cells from recognizing and clearing the virus.
Collins and her lab have studied this protein for more than 15 years, investigating how it works and how it can be disabled. She and David Sherman, professor at the U-M Life Sciences Institute, previously discovered that a chemical found in nature can inhibit HIV Nef, allowing the immune system to find and eliminate virally