Stories tagged T-Cells
The HIV virus attacks white blood cells by latching onto a protein on their surface. People without that protein are immune from AIDS. Using that knowledge, scientists in Pennsylvania have figured out how to genetically manipulate mice so they, too, have the immunity.
The procedure has not yet been tested on humans. If it does work, it wouldn’t cure the disease, but it could let infected persons live healthier lives with the virus.
Tags : Yet another promising line of attack against cancer: doctors in Seattle have treated a man with advanced skin cancer by cloning his white blood cells – the part of the human immune system that fights infection – and injecting them into his tumors. The cancer has gone away and not returned for two years.
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts have discovered that ‘knocking out’ a specific protein found in T-cells reduces the ability of the HIV virus to use that cell to replicate.
T-cells are part of the immune system and their job is to 'eat' infectious agents, like the Human Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV). When HIV successfully infects a T-cell it renders the cell inoperative and uses it as a factory to produce more viruses. However, in order to do all of this, HIV has to penetrate the nucleus of the T-cell, the location of the DNA the virus hijacks for replication.
Scientists have discovered that HIV uses emerin, one of the T-cell’s many proteins, to penetrate the nucleus. Without emerin, HIV was less successful at penetrating the T-cell nucleus.
This discovery brings us closer to having an effective treatment for HIV—the virus that causes AIDS. AIDS is one of the most pressing public health concerns of the past years, as the epidemic continues to claim many lives.
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