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2001 FEB 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) --
A study conducted by researchers with the Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, suggests that in the advanced stages of HIV, the virus can change its structure in an affected person to a form that can target the primary protective cells in the human body - CD8(+) T cells - thus leading to the rapid progression of AIDS.
Children's researcher Kunal Saha, MD, PhD, explained that the findings suggest it may be possible to prevent the progression of AIDS through appropriate therapeutic interventions aimed at preventing direct infection of CD8(+) T cells with HIV.
"If HIV mutates in infected patients to attack CD8(+) T cells, which eventually leads to the development of AIDS, then preventing this from occurring in infected patients may keep them healthy," explained Saha. "Thus, there is great potential for our findings to be useful in the treatment of AIDS."
Cytotoxic T lymphocytes or CD8(+) T cells play an important role in protecting against HIV infection. These cells are ...
Source: HighBeam Research, Study Shows HIV Can Mutate to Attack Human Protective Cells.(Brief...