Immune gene variants help stop HIV
Research on ‘elite controllers’ might lead to better drugs or vaccine
By Nathan Seppa
Variations in an immune-system gene account for at least part of the uncanny ability of some people to withstand an HIV infection without developing AIDS, researchers report online November 4 in Science. The study confirms past data linking the gene, called HLA-B, to HIV defense and narrows researchers’ focus to molecular changes brought on by particular variations in the gene.
About one in 300 people with HIV are “elite controllers.” Though infected with the virus, their immune systems control the disease such that it rarely progresses, even without medicine. Scientists have long thought that finding the genetic peculiarities underlying this protection could help to create drugs or a vaccine against HIV. Recently, scientists found that elite controllers make excess amounts of a protein called p21, which might contribute to protection (SN: 11/20/10, p. 9).
Previous research had hinted that HLA gene variations played a role in elite controllers by influencing a patient’s HIV viral load and disease progression. HLA genes encode immune proteins called human leukocyte antigens, which are central to immune function.