GAINESVILLE, Fla., May 28 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say human immunodeficiency virus drug developers should focus on immune cells called macrophages instead of traditionally targeted T cells.
In the largest study of its kind, researchers from the University of Florida and five other institutions said they discovered that in diseased cells, such as cancer cells, that are also infected with HIV, nearly all the virus was packed into macrophages, whose job is to "eat" invading disease agents. The researchers said they also found that up to half of the macrophages were hybrids, formed when pieces of genetic material from several parent HIV viruses combined to form new strains.
Such "recombination," they said, is responsible for formation of mutants that easily elude immune system surveillance and escape from anti-HIV drugs.
"Macrophages are these little factories producing new hybrid particles of the virus, making the virus probably even more aggressive over time," Assistant Professor and study co-author Marco Salemi said. "If we want to eradicate HIV we need to find a way to actually target the virus specifically infecting the macrophages."
The findings were reported in a recent issue of the online journal PLoS One.
