Researchers discover gene that blocks HIV

A team of researchers at the University of Alberta has discovered a gene that is able to block HIV, and in turn prevent the onset of AIDS.
Stephen Barr, a molecular virologist in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, says his team has identified a gene called TRIM22 that can block HIV infection in a cell culture by preventing the assembly of the virus.

"When we put this gene in cells, it prevents the assembly of the HIV virus," said Barr, a postdoctoral fellow. "This means the virus cannot get out of the cells to infect other cells, thereby blocking the spread of the virus."

Barr and his team also prevented cells from turning on TRIM22 - provoking an interesting phenomenon: the normal response of interferon, a protein that co-ordinates attacks against viral infections, became useless at blocking HIV infection.

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http://www.physorg.com/news123505489.html

Anyone know how a gene would be introduced to someone who is HIV+ or will it only be used for immunity?

think i saw this on national geog a few years back, this american gay guy slept with hundreds of other gay people, including many of his friends which were also diagnosed HIV+, they took a sample of his blood, and discovered, while even when they have exposed it to over a thousand times the conc. of hiv, his white blood cells remained the same number, and hiv had no effect, some people are immune to this disease.

SuperMonkey said:

think i saw this on national geog a few years back, this american gay guy slept with hundreds of other gay people, including many of his friends which were also diagnosed HIV+, they took a sample of his blood, and discovered, while even when they have exposed it to over a thousand times the conc. of hiv, his white blood cells remained the same number, and hiv had no effect, some people are immune to this disease.

Click to expand...

And thusly mother nature will cull the species of mankind to an even number restoring balance.

People who freak out about global warming need only be reminded that the earth will cool itself down as and when needed, those who survive and adapt enough survive, those who don't didn't deserve life and so a strong specie replaces a weaker one.

LOL!!! - on a rambling

I interpret that as 'Keep your jeans ON and zipped up, then they are effectively blocking AIDS'

ergo ... Jeans block aids.

Interesting.
Here is the original research paper.
The Interferon Response Inhibits HIV Particle Production by Induction of TRIM22
Here is what I can gather:
Good news:
TRIM22 interferes with HIV viral replication by blocking/inhibiting the formation of the viral capsid protein, Gag (Cool site to explain the molecules and the genome of HIV).

Bad news:
TRIM22 (Staf50) is activated in response to interferon signaling (IFNbeta). Over expression of TRIM22 inhibits cell growth by activating p53 (potentially bad for T-cells). Expression of TRIM22 decreases during T-lymphocyte activation, diminishing its anti-proliferative activity on differentiating T cells. Further research into how (through which pathway) it activates p53 needs to be done.

Potential usage:
If TRIM22 can be stably transfected (viral vector probably) and constitutively expressed in T-cells without affecting growth, replication and activity, it could possibly be developed into a vaccine. It will not stop infection, but it will prevent it from forming new viral particles.