Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1986. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Associated Press - January 17, 1986
In a report to be published today in Science magazine, the researchers said the finding suggested new ways of stopping or preventing AIDS infections, either by treating immune cells so they will reject the AIDS virus or by using drugs to attack the part of the virus that directs it toward immune cells.
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome has killed 8,361 people in the United States, the Federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta said yesterday. Since reporting began in 1981, 16,458 cases have been reported in this country. There is now no cure.
Scientists have known that the virus has a very particular preference for a specific white blood cell, the T-4 lymphocyte. The T-4 cells play a critical role in the body's immune system by directing the function of other blood cells. When the T-4 cells are infected with the AIDS virus, they cannot coordinate the immune system. The body becomes susceptible to the bizarre infections and unusual cancers seen in patients with AIDS. How Cells Are Picked Out
The new research, by Dr. J. Steven McDougal and colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control, explains how the AIDS virus is able to discriminate among many white blood cells and infect only the T-4 cells. The researchers showed that an AIDS infection begins when a particular protein of the virus, gp110, recognizes and binds to the T-4 protein on the T-4 cells, similar to the way a key fits a lock.
Some researchers expressed caution, however, taking note of evidence that the AIDS virus can infect the brain and central nervous system and bone marrow cells as well as T-4 cells.
Dr. Samuel Broder of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., said the finding was "another step in helping to define potential drugs that could block this initial step as a way of blocking the virus or potentially treating people with established disease." Dr. Broder is conducting trials of experimental AIDS drugs.
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