Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The Associated Press; 50 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020 - Thursday, November 20, 1997; 8:18 p.m. EST
Paul Recer, AP Science Writer
In laboratory experiments at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, scientists have shown that a harmless virus coated with special proteins will search out cells infected with HIV and then lock onto the cell surfaces.
Dr. James A. Hoxie, senior author of the study in the journal Science, said that the hunter virus could be loaded with a biological weapon that would attack HIV inside infected cells and, thus, control the AIDs virus.
The study will be published Friday.
Hoxie said the technique takes advantage of the fact that HIV carries molecules that it uses to link up with receptors, or receiving molecules, on the surface of cells that it invades. When the HIV molecule connects with the receptor, it acts like a key in a lock, opening the cell surface to allow the virus to enter.
A prime receptor used by HIV is called CD4. This receptor is present on immune system blood cells that are the primary targets of HIV.
HIV also requires the use of at least one of two other receptors. A receptor called CCR5 is used by HIV early in the disease to infect macrophages, a type of immune system blood cell. Another receptor, called CXCR4, is used by HIV later to infect T-cells, which are another type of immune system blood cells.
In the Pennsylvania study, researchers coated the surface of a harmless virus with the molecules used by HIV to invade cells.
The altered virus was then exposed in the laboratory to HIV-infected cells.
Hoxie said that the hunter virus coated with CD4 and CCR5 locked onto macrophages that were infected with HIV. When coated with CD4 and CXCR4, the hunter virus sought out and locked onto T-cells infected with HIV.
In both cases, he said, the hunter virus ignored normal cells that were not infected with HIV. This means that the hunter virus is rather like a biological ``smart bomb'' that seeks out specific targets, ignoring the rest.
The technique is still in an early stage of study and will require extensive development before it can be tested on patients.
But Hoxie said that it may be possible to use the hunting virus to deliver toxins or attacking genes to the cells where there is HIV. Once it is locked onto the target, then the hunting virus would release its weapon into the infected cell, killing the virus or preventing it from reproducing.
Copyright 1997/The Associated Press. Reproduced with permission. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the Permissions Desk, The Associated Press, 50 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020.
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