University of Michigan scientists have found a potential cure for HIV. This is reported in an article published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The researchers found that the virus uses the Nef protein to bypass the infected organism's immune system. With it, HIV suppresses the activity of another protein, MHC-I, preventing the immune system from recognizing infected cells that need to be eliminated.
Screening a database of 200,000 small molecules showed that there are no known compounds among the FDA-approved drugs that could block Nef and restore MHC-I function. However, in the LSI library of microbial synthesis products, which contains information on 30 thousand compounds, a class of antibiotics called pleycomacrolides was found that can block Nef.
Pleukomacrolides are widely used in laboratory experiments involving the shutdown of lysosomes, organelles in which damaged cell components are destroyed. Because of this, they are considered too toxic and dangerous to be used as medicines. However, the pleicomacrolide concanamycin A inhibits Nef at much lower concentrations than those required to inhibit the lysosome.
In the experiment, scientists treated HIV-infected Nef-expressing cells with concanamycin A and found that cytotoxic T cells were able to purify infected cells. However, further research is needed to develop suitable drugs.
