[procaare] Scientists Break Into HIV 'Hideout

["HealthDay News" <procaare@healthnet.org>]

Scientists Break Into HIV 'Hideout'
HealthDay News: May 28 2008
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WEDNESDAY, May 28 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have confirmed 
that a certain type of cell provides a "hideout" for HIV during 
drug treatment and is a reservoir of HIV in humans.

These follicular dendritic cells (FDCs) are located throughout the 
body in specialized sites known as lymphoid tissues, said 
researchers at Brigham Young University and Johns Hopkins School of 
Medicine.

FDCs act as "vaults" to store material needed to maintain the 
immune system's legions of antibodies. When there's a drop in a 
particular kind of antibody, FDCs release proteins that trigger an 
immune response to increase levels of those antibodies.

The researchers discovered that FDCs have such an effective vault 
mechanism that HIV can remain out of reach of drugs flowing through 
the blood stream. This finding that FDCs harbor HIV may help 
scientists find ways to attack HIV taking shelter in these 
reservoir cells.

The study was expected to be published in the June issue of the 
Journal of Virology.

"One of the biggest obstacles in treating patients with HIV is the 
establishment of these reservoirs that resist treatment," principal 
investigator Greg Burton, a BYU biochemistry professor, said in a 
prepared statement. "The ability to understand the virus in these 
reservoirs, and to characterize the reservoir itself, provides 
information with which we can begin to try to devise strategies 
that target the virus in these reservoirs."

Previous research has shown that two other types of cells --  
macrophages and latently infected CD4+ T-cells -- are reservoirs of 
HIV. It was suspected that FDCs also acted as HIV reservoirs, and 
this new study confirmed that suspicion.

Source: via Yahoo News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20080528/hl_hsn/scientistsbreakintohivhideout