The cure of HIV has shown significant advances in past years, with people experiencing complete recovery from the disease as a result of new treatments. The thing that has been constant, nevertheless, would be that the pathogen continues to exist in the system even once an individual has received therapeutic therapy for it.
According to a new study, scientists have discovered a plausible explanation for why this happens, which might pave the way for more effective medicines in the future.
Killer T cells have a role in all of this. Cells like this belong to the category of white blood cells that are involved in recognizing and eliminating cells that have been infected by viruses. Alas, they are missing a protein called CD73, which makes it difficult for them to detect and eradicate HIV-infected cells.
The breakthrough may pave the way for more successful medicines in the future. This presents us with the possibility to develop possible novel therapies that might aid killer T cells in their ability to move more effectively and obtain access to affected cells in a variety of organs.
According to their findings, after doing thorough research, scientists determined that acute inflammation resulted in higher quantities of microRNAs, which are RNA molecules present in cells as well as the blood. RNAs of this size may attach to messenger RNAs, preventing them from producing the CD73 protein that is necessary for cell survival. They discovered that this was the cause of the CD73 gene being silenced.
While a decreased CD73 level has several negative consequences, there seems to be one positive consequence: a decreased risk of developing multiple sclerosis. As a result, the experts’ group is now researching alternative strategies for switching on the genes in Hiv – infected individuals and shutting it off in people with multiple sclerosis.
