Having extra copies of a gene that produces a blocking protein helps protect people from AIDS (news - web sites), a finding that may explain why some people are more susceptible to the disease than others, a new study reports. Researchers wondering why people from the same ancestry varied in their ability to resist HIV (news - web sites) and AIDS found differences in the number of copies of the gene that encodes CCL3L1, a protein that blocks HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Researchers hope the finding, reported in Thursday’s online issue of the journal Science, help them identify people who have a higher or lower susceptibility to the disease.
