New HIV-1 replication pathway discovered by NYU College of Dentistry researchers

Findings suggest 'HIV-1 replication without integration' may help HIV-1 persist in vivo despite the application of antiviral drugs

2013-09-18

(Press-News.org) Current drug treatments for HIV work well to keep patients from developing AIDS, but no one has found a way to entirely eliminate the virus from the human body, so patients continue to require lifelong treatment to prevent them from developing AIDS.

Now, a team of researchers led by Dr. David N. Levy, Associate Professor of Basic Science and Craniofacial Biology at the New York University College of Dentistry (NYUCD), have discovered a new way that HIV-1 reproduces itself which could advance the search for new ways to combat infection.

For decades, scientists have been confident that HIV-1, the virus that causes AIDS, must insert its genetic material into a cell's DNA in order to reproduce. This process, called "integration," makes the virus a permanent part of the cell. Some of these infected cells can remain as long as the person is alive, and this is one reason why HIV+ individuals must remain on anti-HIV drugs for life.

Dr. Levy's National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded research, "HIV-1 replication without integration," published today on-line in the Journal of Virology, with lead author Dr. Benjamin Trinité, a post-doctoral fellow in Dr. Levy's laboratory, has shown HIV-1 can sometimes skip this integration step entirely.

"Although this is not the virus' main method for replicating, having this option available can help HIV survive," said Dr. Levy. "These new findings suggest one mechanism by which HIV may be surviving in the face of antiviral drugs, and suggests new avenues for research into eliminating infection."

The integration step is highly inefficient and actually fails up to 99% of the time, leaving most viruses stranded outside of the safe harbor of cell's DNA. It has been assumed that these stranded, or "unintegrated" viruses were unable to reproduce, but Dr. Levy's team has found that if the conditions are right they can generate new viruses that infect new cells.

The team also found that the unintegrated viruses can survive for many weeks in cells, allowing HIV to "hide out" in a dormant state. The ability of HIV-1 to go dormant helps it avoid elimination by antiviral drugs and immune responses.

"There is intense interest by researchers in the idea that new drugs might be developed to help to completely eliminate the virus from infected individuals," said Dr. Levy. "We think that the new replication mechanism we have found could provide a target for drugs designed to eliminate infection."

Dr Levy notes, an interesting phenomenon which other researchers have observed is that some bacteria which live in our mouths can stimulate HIV-1 to emerge from its dormant state.

"NYUCD has some terrific groups of researchers who are expert in oral flora and HIV, so we'll be quite interested in working with them to find out how oral health might influence the new replication pathway my group has discovered," added Dr. Levy.

### This study was supported by grants from NIH/NIAID: R01AI078783 (DNL) and R01AI093998 (DNL and DW).

About New York University College of Dentistry--New York University College of Dentistry (NYUCD) is the third oldest and the largest dental school in the US, educating more than 8 percent of all dentists. NYUCD has a significant global reach and provides a level of national and international diversity among its students that is unmatched by any other dental school. http://www.nyu.edu/dental/

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Nanocrystal catalyst transforms impure hydrogen into electricity

2013-09-18

UPTON, NY -- The quest to harness hydrogen as the clean-burning fuel of the future demands the perfect catalysts -- nanoscale machines that enhance chemical reactions. Scientists must tweak atomic structures to achieve an optimum balance of reactivity, durability, and industrial-scale synthesis. In an emerging catalysis frontier, scientists also seek nanoparticles tolerant to carbon monoxide, a poisoning impurity in hydrogen derived from natural gas. This impure fuel -- 40 percent less expensive than the pure hydrogen produced from water -- remains largely untapped. Now, ...

Mild HIV-related cognitive impairments may be overlooked due to inadequate screening tools: Study

2013-09-18

TORONTO, Sept. 18, 2013—One of the common side effects of HIV and AIDS is neurocognitive impairments – changes in how fast a person can process information, pay attention, multi-task and remember things – yet there are no adequate tests to screen patients for these problems, according to a new study out of St. Michael's Hospital. The incidence of severe forms of HIV-associated neuorcognitive disorders, or HAND, has declined significantly with the availability of combination antiretroviral drug therapy over the last 20 years. But the prevalence of the milder form has ...

Higher lead levels may lie just below soil surface

2013-09-18

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A newly published analysis of data from hundreds of soil samples from 31 properties around southern Rhode Island finds that the lead concentration in soil at the surface is not always a reliable indicator of the contamination a foot deeper. The study, led by Brown University Superfund Research Program researchers at the request of the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH), informs ongoing efforts to assess the impact of the state's legacy of lead-painted water towers. Towers all over the state, including at six sites analyzed in the study, were ...

Inhaled corticosteroids raise pneumonia risk

2013-09-18

Edmonton -- A University of Alberta researcher says health professionals should be cautious about prescribing inhaled corticosteroids to high-risk patients such as pneumonia survivors, citing a twofold risk for repeat infection. Dean Eurich led a research team that examined inhaled corticosteroid use among elderly patients for a clinical study. The team evaluated more than 6,200 seniors who survived an initial episode of pneumonia but were still at high risk of developing another bout of infection. Over the five-year study, 653 seniors had a repeat episode -- and inhaled ...

Lens combines human and insect vision to focus wide-angle views

2013-09-18

COLUMBUS, Ohio— A lens invented at The Ohio State University combines the focusing ability of a human eye with the wide-angle view of an insect eye to capture images with depth. The results could be smartphones that rival the photo quality of digital cameras, and surgical imaging that enables doctors to see inside the human body like never before. Engineers described the patent-pending lens in the Technical Digest of the 25th IEEE International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems. "Our eye can change focus. An insect eye is made of many small optical components ...

NASA sees formation of northwestern Pacific's Tropical Depression 18W

2013-09-18

NASA's Aqua satellite caught the birth of the eighteenth tropical depression of the northwestern Pacific Ocean tropical cyclone season. Tropical Depression 18W was born in the South China Sea and is expected to be short-lived after a quick landfall in central Vietnam. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured a visible image of disorganized Tropical Depression 18W on Sept. 18 at 0616 UTC/2:16 a.m. EDT. Satellite imagery showed that the circulation is large, and that convection and thunderstorms appear disorganized ...

American Chemical Society podcast: Duckweed as a cost-competitive raw material for biofuel

2013-09-18

The latest episode in the American Chemical Society's (ACS') award-winning Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions podcast series describes how the search for a less-expensive, sustainable source of biomass, or plant material, for producing gasoline, diesel and jet fuel has led scientists to duckweed, that fast-growing floating plant that turns ponds and lakes green. Based on a report by Christodoulos A. Floudas, Ph.D., in the ACS journal Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, the new podcast is available without charge at iTunes and from http://www.acs.org/globalchallenges. ...

Dirty job made easier: Microfluidic technique recovers DNA for IDs

2013-09-18

A team of researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Applied Research Associates, Inc. (ARA, Alexandria, Va.) has demonstrated an improved microfluidic technique for recovering DNA from real-world, complex mixtures such as dirt. According to a recent paper,* their technique delivers DNA from these crude samples with much less effort and in less time than conventional techniques. It yields DNA concentrations that are optimal for human identification procedures and can potentially be miniaturized for use outside the laboratory. Forensic ...

Lifestyle, age linked to diabetes-related protein

2013-09-18

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Over the last decade researchers have amassed increasing evidence that relatively low levels of a protein called sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) can indicate an elevated risk of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome years in advance. In a collection of studies described in a new paper, published online Sept. 18 in the journal Clinical Chemistry, Dr. Simin Liu, professor of epidemiology and medicine at Brown, led an effort to measure SHBG levels in 13,547 women who take part of the national Women's Health Initiative. The team ...

Tropical Storm Humberto makes an 'A' for Atlantic on satellite imagery

2013-09-18

When NASA's Terra satellite passed over Tropical Storm Humberto on Sept. 17, the MODIS instrument aboard took a picture of the storm and it resembled the letter "A" as it moves through the northeastern Atlantic Ocean. The strongest band of thunderstorms appear in the eastern quadrant of the storm, and the northern and western quadrants also have clouds and showers, but a section of the southern quadrant appears cloud-free, causing Humberto to resemble a letter "A." Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center or NHC noted, however, that the low-level center has been very ...

New HIV-1 replication pathway discovered by NYU College of Dentistry researchers

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: