"Scientists discover that defective HIV DNA can encode HIV-related proteins"

[tryingtostay]

Ohh, I'm going to say not good.  Don't know if it is or not but I don't like the sound of it. 

Article

Investigators from the National Institutes of Health have discovered that cells from HIV-infected people whose virus is suppressed with treatment harbor defective HIV DNA that can nevertheless be transcribed into a template for producing HIV-related proteins. This finding may affect scientists' understanding of the long-term effects of HIV infection and what a cure would require.

When HIV infects a cell, it inserts its genetic instructions into the cell's DNA. Effective treatment with anti-HIV drugs does not eliminate this HIV DNA (called proviral DNA or a provirus), so in theory it could give rise to new viruses during treatment. However, scientists previously have found that 95 percent or more of HIV proviruses are unable to encode intact viruses due to genetic mutations and deletions. As a result, researchers have come to think of these defective HIV proviruses as biological dead-ends.

This thinking may change thanks to the new finding by scientists in the Laboratory of Immunoregulation at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of NIH.

Hiromi Imamichi, Ph.D., and colleagues used a technique for creating multiple copies of nearly full-length proviral DNA and cell-associated HIV RNA. The scientists showed that HIV RNAs complementary to defective proviruses could be found in cells from two of four people in whom treatment had suppressed the virus to undetectable levels for more than 8 years. This was evidence that the defective provirus had been transcribed from DNA into an RNA molecule. The researchers then demonstrated that these RNAs could encode novel HIV-related proteins. Thus, while unable to encode a virus, the defective proviral DNA could encode an intact protein.

This finding could help explain the persistent immune activation observed in people living with HIV who have undetectable levels of virus, say the study authors. The discovery also suggests another potential barrier to an HIV cure. More research is needed, however, to determine the impact of HIV RNA transcripts from defective proviruses, the authors add.

[Almost2late]

Ohh, I'm going to say not good.  Don't know if it is or not but I don't like the sound of it. 

Really? I see it more like a step forward to having a better understanding of the virus.. Thanks for sharing.

[tryingtostay]

Oh, absolutely it's a step in progress I'm just worried about what those proteins could end up triggering.

[SmartArg]

Of course itīs good. Like almost2late said, it means a better understanding of the virus. Besides, like the article says, the fact that this proviral DNA can encode for viral proteins does not mean it can produce new infectious viral particles.

PS: too negative to be so "positive"

[SmartArg]

Oh, absolutely it's a step in progress I'm just worried about what those proteins could end up triggering.

Like the article says, those proteins may be responsible for the persistent inflammation seen during hiv infection despite antiretroviral therapy.

[CaveyUK]

Yes, if knowledge like this helps develop further treatments to mitigate the effects then I'm all for it.

Now that we have in many ways a form of functional cure (in the sense that meds can suppress the virus and render us non-infectious with a normal lifespan) the big bugbear is persistent inflammation which is the cause of some of the aging issues people living with HIV have. Anything that advances the knowledge in this area is a huge step.