July 9, 2022 19:09
A new American study has made a scientific discovery that will contribute to the development of treatment and vaccines against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1), also known as HIV-1.
This virus is known for its ability to evade the immune system. This has prevented, so far, from finding a cure for it.
Recently, scientists at Scripps Research Institute in California discovered how our innate immune system, the body’s quick first line of defense against foreign invaders, detects HIV-1, even when the virus is present in very small amounts.
The findings, published July 8, 2022 in the journal Molecular Cell, reveal the two-step molecular strategy that drives the innate immune response into action upon exposure to HIV-1.
This discovery could influence drug development for treatments and vaccines against HIV, as well as shape our understanding of the innate immune response in other areas, including neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.
“This research identifies how the immune system can recognize a highly cryptic virus, and then activate immunity,” says Dr. Sumit Chanda, Professor in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology. “From a potential therapeutic perspective, these findings open new avenues for vaccines and adjuvants that mimic the response.” and offers additional solutions to prevent HIV infection.
The innate immune system is activated before the acquired immune system, and it is the body’s secondary line of defense that includes more specialized functions, such as antibody production.
One of the primary responsibilities of the innate immune system is to recognize our own proteins, genetic materials, and foreign elements (such as viruses or other pathogens). There is a protein in the innate immune system that senses DNA floating in the cell. If this protein, known as cGAS, detects a foreign presence, it activates a molecular pathway to fight the invader.
However, because HIV-1 is an RNA virus, it produces so little DNA that scientists did not understand how cGAS and the innate immune system were able to detect it and distinguish it from our own DNA.
Scripps Institute researchers have discovered that the innate immune system requires a two-step security check to be activated against HIV-1. The first step concerns an essential protein that recognizes the virus’s outer envelope once it enters the cell and before it can replicate. This protein, known as PQBP1, then coats and decorates the virus, and serves as a signal to call the cGAS protein. Once the viral shell begins to disintegrate, cGAS activates additional pathways related to immunity to the virus.
The researchers were initially surprised to discover that two steps are required for innate immune activation against HIV-1, as most other DNA-coding viruses activate cGAS in just one step. This is a similar concept to technologies that use two-factor authentication, such as requiring users to enter a password and then replying to a confirmation email.
This two-part mechanism also opens the door to methods of vaccination against the virus.
“While the acquired immune system has been a major focus of HIV research and vaccine development, our findings clearly demonstrate the critical role that the innate immune response plays in detecting the virus,” says Dr. Sene Yeoh, first author of the study, stressing that this two-step process allows the possibility of “To develop novel adjuvant vaccine strategies against HIV-1”.
By highlighting the functioning of the innate immune system, the results of this study also illustrate how our bodies respond to other inflammatory diseases of autoimmune or neurodegeneration.
For example, PQBP1 has been shown to interact with tau, a protein that becomes dysregulated in Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers will continue to investigate how the innate immune system is involved in the onset and development of the disease, as well as how it distinguishes between self and foreign cells.
Source: Al Ittihad – Abu Dhabi
#Scientific #discovery #heralds #development #drugs #vaccine #AIDS