Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Reuters NewMedia, Inc. - Wednesday December 11 6:10 PM EST

According to a report in this week's issue of the journal Nature, everything from production of cell-signaling molecules -- called cytokines -- to the shape of receptors on immune cells, can help determine the deadliness of HIV infection.

"In the past few months, we have witnessed a rapid and truly remarkable convergence of information from diverse areas of AIDS research," stated Dr. Anthony Fauci in a release from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in Bethesda, Maryland.

"These findings have created unprecedented opportunity for deciphering the HIV disease process, and provide the scientific basis for developing new treatment and vaccine strategies," according to Fauci, the director of NIAID and author of the new report.

Researchers have discovered that cytokines can play a key role in HIV infection. Proteins such as interleukin (IL)-beta, IL-2, IL-3, IL-6, IL-12 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha and -beta can increase replication of the virus. IL-4, IL-10, IL-13 and other cytokines have been found to suppress or stimulate HIV, depending on the situation. Researchers hope to identify other proteins that can suppress HIV.

"The search for the identity of these factors has now triggered a new area of HIV research," according to Fauci.

Researchers have recently discovered why some people repeatedly exposed to HIV never become infected with the virus. Such individuals have a mutation in a cell receptor that prevents the virus from "opening the door" to the cell's interior. Without that step, some strains of HIV are thwarted in their attempt to replicate, and thus, can't establish an infection.

Mutations in other receptors may explain why some people become infected with HIV, but don't progress to AIDS. HIV mutates constantly during the course of infection and strains that develop late in the course of the disease may not be able to attack cells if certain receptors have undergone mutation.

"Applying these findings may not be simple," Fauci noted. The extraordinary complexity of the relationship between cytokines and cell receptors suggests that there is no guarantee that a specific therapy will work in treating or preventing HIV.

"Therapeutic and preventive strategies affecting host factors, and particularly cytokines and their receptors, should be thus applied with considerable caution, beginning with animal models where possible," he concluded. "Despite these concerns, however, there can be no doubt that the new strategies suggested by recent advances in our understanding of host-HIV interaction have remarkable potential and should be vigorously pursued." SOURCE: Nature (1996;384:529-534)
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