Gene study finds proteins connected to HIV

BOSTON, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers using a new genetic screening tool report they can identify human proteins required for HIV propagation, which could lead to new treatments.

Current drugs attack HIV itself, leaving patients vulnerable to counterattack by the rapidly mutating virus. Harvard Medical School researchers said the discovery of human proteins used by HIV represent potential new therapeutic targets, the university said Thursday in a release.

Using a technique called RNA interference, scientists screened thousands of genes and identified 273 human proteins required for HIV infection. The report said the vast majority of the proteins had not been connected to the virus by previous studies.

Researchers said they need to find a way to develop drugs that inhibit HIV without hurting cells.

"The expanded list is a hypothesis generation machine," primary investigator Stephen Elledge said in a statement. "Scientists can look at the list, predict why HIV needs a particular protein, and then test their hypothesis."

The findings appear online in Science Express and will be published next month in the journal Science.