Bacterium Guards against HIV

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1994. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Bacterium Guards against HIV

Science News (11/26/94) Vol. 146, No. 22, P. 360
Fackelmann, Kathy A.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine are trying to convert the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes into an HIV vaccine. While L. monocytogenes can cause illness in people with unhealthy immune systems who eat contaminated food, HIV-infected people appear relatively resistant to the bug. It was discovered that when a specific HIV gene was injected into L. monocytogenes' chromosomes, the genetically engineered bacteria used the information encoded by the HIV gene to construct one of the virus' protein products. After studying mice injected with the transformed bacterium, the researchers believe that once the bacterium is established in a cell, it begins to produce the HIV protein. The cell would then recognize the foreign protein and bring it to the surface of the cell at the attention of killer T cells. Such a process, researchers hope, will yield protective immunity against HIV.

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