WASHINGTON, Sept 25 (AFP) - Laboratory tests have succeeded in blocking reproduction of the virus that causes AIDS, a key step in finding a cure for the deadly disease, reseachers said in a study published in Tuesday's edition of the journal Biochemistry of the American Chemical Society.

The researchers discovered an element in cells infected by the human immunodeficiency virus that interacts with a protein necessary for the spread of the virus. If the interaction can be prevented, the virus will not have a chance to spread or develop resistance to drugs.

"The implications of these findings are that inhibition of this vital process will block the replication of the virus, thereby arresting the disease," said professor Virendranath Pandey, of the New Jersey Medical School in Newark, one of the study's authors.

"These results suggest that (this treatment) may be a potentially attractive therapy."

The researchers bonded a synthetic form of DNA - called polyamide nucleic acid - to the virus's genetic structure. This prevented a protein called "Tat" from activating the process that spreads the virus from cell to cell. If the Tat protein is blocked, the virus cannot replicate itself.

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