Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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United Press International; Thursday, October 9, 1997 - 4:36 PM EDT
Mara Bovsun
The finding may help drug designers come up with more potent therapies for the disease, the researchers say.
In test tube experiments, the virus _ called KS-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) _ produced chemokines, proteins that block cell receptors, the molecular doorways through which HIV enters and infects cells.
Dr. Chris Boshoff of London's Institute of Cancer Research says these virus-produced chemokines, dubbed vMIP-1 and vMIP-2, are similar to ones naturally produced in the human body.
Unlike the body's own chemokines, viral chemokines are "promiscuous, " easily latching onto many different receptors, he says.
Boshoff says the finding, published in the journal Science, suggests that AIDS patients with Kaposi's may get a form of AIDS that progresses more slowly.
KSHV chemokines, for example, bind tightly to a receptor called CCR3, which helps usher HIV into brain cells. Dr. Boshoff says this suggests that patients with Kaposi's may be less likely to become demented.
In their investigation, the scientists also discovered that KSHV chemokines promote new blood vessel formation, providing the critical lifeline for cancer. Boshoff says this may be the reason why AIDS- related Kaposi's progresses more rapidly than the classic form of the disease.
The next step, he says, is to look for the activity of KSHV chemokines in Kaposi's-infected patients.
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