Researchers Create Molecule to Block AIDS Infection

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1993. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Researchers Create Molecule to Block AIDS Infection

Wall Street Journal (11/01/93) P. A11A

French researchers have created a type of molecules that they say are able to block AIDS infection in test-tube research. In lab trials, the molecule CDR3 blocks the entry doors on three cell types targeted by HIV: lymphocyte, macrophage, and intestinal cells, according to the team at North Marseille Hospital. "Thanks to this molecule, we managed to stop, in the laboratory, not only the infection of the target cells by the HIV-1 virus, of European stock, but also an African virus, HIV -2," said virologist Jacques Fantini, one of the researchers. He compared the discovery to "a pass key that allows one to block all the locks to stop the virus from entering healthy cells." The process still must be verified in mice and monkeys, but is an "important step in basic research against AIDS," said Jurphaas Van Rietschoten, research director at the National Center for Scientific Research, which oversaw the work. "It's a hope, not a guarantee," he said, cautioning that it is uncertain whethere the molecule will prove toxic in animals or humans.

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