AFRO-NETS> Scientists photograph HIV's path into human cells

[Claudio Schuftan <aviva@netnam.vn>]

Scientists photograph HIV's path into human cells
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Health Watch
Tuesday, December 17, 2002

Researchers at the University of Chicago, using fluorescent proteins 
and time-lapse photography, have documented for the first time HIV's 
slow path in penetrating human immune cells, BBC News reports:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2573667.stm

The pictures offer proof that the virus uses natural cellular machinery 
to move from the cell membrane into the nucleus. HIV was shown to at-
tach to a cell protein called dyenin to travel through a series of 
tiny microtubules from the cell membrane into the center of the cell. 
The microtubules lead all the way to the cell's nucleus where HIV in-
serts its own genetic material, effectively turning the cell into a 
factory that will make copies of the virus.

Time-lapse photographs were taken under the microscope at 15-second 
intervals to reveal the virus's steady -- but sometimes haphazard -- 
progress toward the center of the cell. "They don't make a beeline 
for the nucleus," said Prof. David McDonald. "Their progress is some-
what halting. They appear to jump from one microtubule to another, 
moving in a jagged path, even sometimes moving backward, but they 
eventually reach their destination." The pictures can be seen in the 
Journal of Cell Biology.

The researchers hope their findings will help other scientists gain a 
better understanding of how HIV invades immune system cells and offer 
up new targets for treatments to slow HIV infection, including com-
pounds that aim to prevent HIV from linking with the dyenin proteins 
or travel freely through cellular microtubules.

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