Gene Mutations Tied To Immune Comeback During Therapy For HIV-1, University of Texas Health Science Center

UTHSC -- A new study by U.S. scientists provides compelling evidence that two genes are linchpins in defining the course of immune restoration in HIV-positive individuals undergoing virus-suppressing therapy. Nature Medicine, one of the world’s highest-impact journals, posted the study online March 30. The findings explain why some subjects’ immune systems fail to have a sustained immune comeback, despite suppression of HIV-1 replication by highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), while others’ immune systems roar back. The two genes are CCR5, an HIV-1 co-receptor or portal of entry for the virus into CD4+ T cells, and CCL3L1, an HIV-suppressing molecule that binds to CCR5.