Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1998. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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United Press International; Wednesday January 21 10:08 PM EST
Lidia Wasowicz, UPI Science Writer
They say in the British journal Nature Wednesday the so-called nef gene apparently plays a key role in letting cells infected with the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome, AIDS, evade the immune system.
The study was led by Nobel laureate David Baltimore at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. He has since left MIT to become president of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
Baltimore says finding out how cells infected with the AIDS-causing human immunodeficiency virus, HIV, get away from the disease-fighting immune system is vital to understanding AIDS development.
He and his colleagues found how the HIV nef protein protects infected cells from destruction by warriors of the immune system called cytotoxic T lymphocytes. These CTLs, which normally wipe out virally infected cells, recognize their targets by their display of what scientists term peptide epitopes, a kind of cautionary flag signifying trouble.
But, the scientists found, when the nef gene is around, these infected cells appear to be protected from the onslaught of the CTLs. Apparently, nef interferes with this warning system, allowing the troublesome cells to remain undetected by the armies sent out to destroy them.
Baltimore says the finding highlights the nef protein as a potential target for new therapies aimed at bolstering the CTL response to HIV early in the deadly game.
The next step, of course, is to determine whether what took place in the test tube actually takes place in people.
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