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Immune system may help in neutralising body from HIV-1 virus

ANI  |  Washington D.C. [USA] 

According to a new study, researchers have discovered a process protecting the body from autoimmune disease appears to prevent it from creating antibodies that can neutralize the HIV-1 virus, a finding that could possibly help lead to a vaccine that stimulates production of these antibodies.

The team sought to better understand how the body's own immune system might be getting in the way of neutralizing the HIV-1 virus.

The group knew that some patients infected with HIV-1 developed what are known as 'broadly neutralizing antibodies,' or bnAbs, that can protect against a wide variety of HIV-1 strains by recognizing a protein on the surface of the virus called Env.


Because of shared found in a number of HIV-1 bnAbs, scientists suspected the inability or delayed ability to make these type of protective antibodies against HIV was due to the immune system suppressing production of the antibodies to prevent the body from creating self-reactive antibodies that could cause autoimmune diseases like systemic lupus erythematosus.

At the same time, patients with lupus showed slower rates of HIV-1 infection. Scientists believe that's because these autoimmune patients produce self-reactive antibodies that recognize and neutralize HIV-1.



"We wanted to see if people could make a protective response to HIV-1 without the normal restraint imposed by the immune system to prevent autoimmunity," shared Raul M. Torres, PhD, professor of immunology and microbiology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.






The researchers confirmed these antibodies could neutralize HIV-1.

Torres explained, "We think this may reflect an example of molecular mimicry where the virus has evolved to mimic or look like a self protein."


"But breaching peripheral immunological tolerance permits the production of cross-reactive antibodies able to neutralize HIV-1," shared Torres.



The study was published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine.


First Published: Wed, July 12 2017. 08:47 IST