Researchers at the University of Texas Medical School believe they may have found a weak point in the human immunodeficiency virus.
HIV is invulnerable to vaccines because its envelope is always mutating. As such, antibodies cannot attach to it. However, the virus does require one part of its envelope to remain constant in order to attach to host cells.
That constant part, a tiny stretch of amino acids numbered 421-433 on envelope protein gp120, is the part that silences antibody-producing cells. The victim’s body thus continuously produces antibodies for the changing parts of the envelope, but not the constant part.
The researchers are now testing abzymes to attack just that constant part. The next step: human clinical trials.
The required abzymes occur naturally in patients with lupus. So the cure for AIDS is… lupus?
译文:
AIDS的治疗方法是......狼疮?
德克萨斯州医科大学的研究人员认为他们可能已经找到了人类免疫缺失病毒的一个弱点。
由于HIV病毒的外壳壳层一直在变化，因此它对疫苗刀枪不入。正因为这样，抗体没法附着在它的上面。然而，HIV病毒确实需要在外壳壳层上保留一部分区域使其稳定，以此使自己能够附着在宿主的细胞上。
这一稳定的部分，是位于病毒外壳壳层蛋白gp120上的编号为421-433的氨基酸的微小延伸部分，它的作用就是抑制产生抗体的细胞。这样一来，受侵者的身体不断地产生针对外壳壳层变化部分的抗体，但对于该稳定部分则没有抗体生成而无能为力。
研究人员现在正在测试分离酵素用来附着在那一稳定的部分。下一步：人体临床试验。
在狼疮病人的体内，能自然生成所需要的该种分离酵素。那么，艾滋病的治疗方法是……狼疮？