Cell Research Uncovers Intriguing Clues To "Trojan Horse" Gene In HIV Infection

Researchers are probing details of how HIV commandeers genes in infected cells to disguise itself from the immune system. The researchers, from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, have identified cellular proteins expressed during HIV infection that enable HIV-infected cells to avoid apoptosis, a common cell suicide event. This survival mechanism allows the virus to maintain the infection within the compromised cells. These findings, as yet based on studies in cells, not in patients, may potentially lead to future treatments that could fully eliminate a patient's HIV infection.