HIV Particles Don't Directly Cause AIDS, Immune Cell Response Does
It appears that the development of the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, into acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, otherwise known as AIDS, is not caused by the virus itself, but by our own immune cells.
In a study conducted by the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, researchers discovered that although HIV can spread as a free-floating virus, infecting cells one by one, it does most of its damage in cell-to-cell transfer. This method is 1,000 times more effective in the virus's infection rate, according to International Business Times.
"Although free-floating viruses establish the initial infection, it is the subsequent cell-to-cell spread of HIV that causes massive CD4 T cell death," co-first author Dr. Nicole Galloway, a fellow at the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, said. "Cell-to-cell transmission of HIV is absolutely required for activation of the pathogenic HIV cell-death pathway."
In a 2014 study, scientists discovered that 95 percent of HIV-related cell death is caused by "cell suicide," where immune cells terminate themselves after HIV fails to infect them. These cells abort the virus, and eject it, but they leave behind DNA in the process. This DNA then activates enzymes in the cells, which cause the cells to commit suicide in defense of the invasion.
The researchers tested different methods of HIV transfer to cells to see how they could hinder this phenomenon.
They increased the physical distance between cells (so they cannot come in contact with one another), genetically modified the virus, applied chemical HIV inhibitors, and blocked inter-cellular synapses. These tests showed an interruption of the pro-inflammatory death of cells from HIV, and a stop of cellular suicide, a huge breakthrough.
"This study fundamentally changes our mindset about how HIV causes massive cell death, and puts the spotlight squarely on the infected cells in lymphoid tissues rather than the free virus," Dr. Warner C. Greene, director of the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, told UPI. "By preventing cell-to-cell transmission, we may able to block the death pathway and stop the progression from HIV infection to AIDS."
This discovery of how to hinder cell-to-cell transfer changes the medical approach to treating HIV, and researchers now believe that they have devised a way to block the progression from HIV to AIDS, based on this new understanding of how the process of infection works.
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