August 18, 2009

New Synthetic Proteins Block HIV

Synthetic proteins dubbed “foldamers” effectively keep HIV from infecting cells in test tube studies and could point the way to future treatments, according to an announcement by researchers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Cells have their own system of relating to each other. They can interact among themselves or with other types of cells in the body. Special strings of proteins, called peptides, facilitate this cellular connectivity. Interaction is also necessary between HIV and human immune cells.

While there has been interest in using altered naturally occurring peptides to disrupt the interaction between human cells and HIV, getting the altered peptides where they belong isn’t easy.  The injected peptides are long and delicate and thus require large quantities of medication to be therapeutically effective; in addition, the peptides must be administered via injection to circumvent digestive enzymes that break down the strands.

Now, however, a group of researchers from the University of Wisconsin, the University of Pittsburgh and Weill Medical College at Cornell University in New York City, have developed synthetic peptides that are large enough to disrupt communication between HIV and cells, but sturdy enough that the body can’t break them down easily. The results of this initial collaborative work have been published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Medicine.

W. Seth Horne, PhD, from the University of Pittsburgh, and his colleagues developed a synthetic version of a peptide that typically connects with the HIV protein called gp41. The synthetic peptide, which they call a foldamer, was large enough to interact with the HIV protein, but engineered not to be broken down easily by enzymes. In the lab, several versions of the foldamer were quite effective at blocking HIV from infecting cells.

According to the head of the lab at the University of Wisconsin, chemistry professor Samuel Gellman, PhD, said the new foldamers offer new ways to design molecules to fight viruses and other infections. “There’s a huge potential here because the strategy we use is different from what the pharmaceutical and biotech industries now employ,” Gellman says.

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Previous Comments:

smasher, Harare, 2009-08-21 13:20:29
I pray that God opens the brains of these people who labour day and night to find a cure for people like me with HIV. The brains ,they were given whats left is for God to open that part of the brain were the answer is located. Abstainance and protected sex will give give hope for a new HIV free generation. Educate and also be educated because HIV is there and it is real.

Ron, Cincinnati, 2009-08-21 01:37:37
In September 2009 I will be a 19 year survivor living with HIV. I am almost always hopeful I will be around for a cure to this killer of such great people; and love to hear of new advances. My doc is on the forefront and very involved in research at the University of Cincinnati Hospital. She handed me the tools to survive this far and I look forward to moving on with my life as a college educated man with a bright future. Who knew life could start at 40.

Francisco, Monterrey, 2009-08-20 20:13:43
I'm very happy this kind of breakthroughs are being encountered, and that soon an effective med can be produced. I've been poz for 25 years. I'm interested in corresponding with other poz, especially with long term survivors.

Ben, Hartford, CT, 2009-08-20 08:45:54
I am amazed at the research and discoveries being made in labs all over the world. We've come a long way since my high school chemistry class when I first view a protazoa in the early 1960's! Good luck and thanks for the hard work as you seek to cure HIV/AIDS!

Juan, southern cal., 2009-08-19 16:09:04
This is a very good breakthrough i hope and prey that the research of this type progresses and helps all kinds of people in the world.