New light shed on HIV’s ability to remain in cells despite treatment

Experts from the University of Alberta in Canada have uncovered a new reason why people living with HIV cannot completely get rid of the virus despite regular and effective antiretroviral therapy. The article was published on the MedicalXpress website. 

The team has found that in people living with HIV, killer T-cells contain almost none of the protein CD73. The protein CD73 is responsible for migration and movement of cells into tissues, its absence in killer T-cells compromises their ability to enter tissue to find and destroy infected cells.

The depletion of CD73 protein is partly due to chronic inflammation, which is often faced by people living with HIV. Inflammation leads to an increase in microRNA levels - these are small types of RNA that block the creation of the CD73 protein. Which leads to the suppression of the CD73 gene.

"This discovery gives us the opportunity to develop new treatments that will help killer T-cells migrate better to access infected cells in different tissues," said Dr. Shokrolla Elahi.

In the future, researchers plan to determine how to manipulate the CD73 gene.

A previous study showed that HIV hides in cytotoxic CD4 T-cells that can protect themselves from destruction. Moreover, these special T-cells can be cloned despite antiretroviral therapy.