http://www.sciencecodex.com/read/unraveling_t...al_killer_within_us-80232

Scientists have discovered more about the intricacies of the immune system in a breakthrough that may help combat viral infections such as HIV. [...] Natural Killer cells are a unique type of white blood cell important in early immune responses to tumours and viruses. Unlike most cells of the immune system that are activated by molecules found on the pathogen or tumour, Natural Killer cells are shut down by a group of proteins found on healthy cells. These de-activating proteins, known as Human Leukocyte Antigens or HLA molecules are absent in many tumours and cells infected with viruses, leaving them open to attack by the Natural Killer cells. Natural Killer cells recognise the HLA molecules using an inbuilt surveillance system called "Killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors" (KIR). Using the Australian Synchrotron, the team determined the three dimensional shape of one of these key KIR proteins, termed KIR3DL1, which binds to a particular HLA molecule. This pairing is known to play a role in limiting viral replication in people with HIV, slowing the progression of the disease to AIDS. [...]

http://www.sciencecodex.com/read/physicists_m..._of_protein_folding-80503

Physicists at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) are opening a new window into the life of biological cells, using a technique that lets them grab the ends of a single protein molecule and pull, making continuous, direct measurements as it unfolds and refolds. Their latest results, reported in the journal Science, reveal a complex network of intermediate structural and kinetic states along the way to functionally correct folded forms, including both express routes and dead ends. [...] Where X-ray structural analyses offer "snapshots" of protein folding, single-molecule force spectroscopy [...] produces views that are, by comparison, more like movies. Even though these movies are very "blurred," since they only capture the length of the molecule, they allow the researchers to study the dynamics of the folding process. [... using] ultra-stable, high-resolution "optical tweezers," a tool that traps miniscule objects between opposing laser beams as surely as if they were being held between thumb and forefinger. To get a grip on a calmodulin molecule, the researchers first would insert it between two molecules of a mechanically tougher protein called ubiquitin. Residues of the amino acid cysteine at the outer ends of this assembly allowed "handles" made of DNA to be attached, and these were fixed to glass beads one micrometer in diameter. The beads, and thus the calmodulin molecule between them, could then be manipulated with the optical tweezers. The essence of the experiments, repeated many times over in a variety of ways, was to pull the ends of a single, folded calmodulin molecule until it straightened out and then to reduce the tension so it could fold again, constantly measuring protein length, mechanical forces and time with extreme precision. Throughout, the calmodulin molecule was kept in conditions not too different from its working environment inside a cell, an aqueous solution with a concentration of calcium ions known to favor stable folding. Statistical analysis helped to reveal what the measurements recorded. [...] The results indicate that distinct subdomains of the calmodulin molecule fold independently yet interact with others, sometimes cooperating and sometimes interfering. "Far from being a simple two-state process," Rief explains, "the folding of a calmodulin molecule takes place via a complex network of pathways in what we call its 'energy landscape.' We found that this map of kinetic states and paths between different folded forms includes dead ends -- intermediate structures that need to be undone, like unwanted knots in a rope, before the protein can assume a shape that enables it to function properly." The researchers also discovered express routes, pathways that let some domains reach their final state much more rapidly than the molecule as a whole. [...]

AIDSMAP

All the latest worldwide HIV and AIDS news, including treatment, prevention, and hepatitis and TB co-infections.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/232423.php

"Article Date: 09 Aug 2011

Small Molecules Hit It Big New Therapeutic Approaches Against Viruses, Bacteria, And Cancer

Scientists from Freie Universität Berlin and the NeuroCure Cluster of Excellence led by biochemist Volker Haucke in collaboration with colleagues from Australia and the Leibniz Institute for Molecular Pharmacology (FMP) in Berlin have developed small molecules that inhibit the internalization of important signaling molecules but also of pathogenic organisms such as the immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and bacteria into cells. These compounds inhibit the function of the cellular scaffold protein clathrin und could thereby serve as a starting point for novel therapeutic approaches for the treatment of cancer, viral or bacterial infections, or neurological disorders. These results were published in the latest issue of the prestigious journal Cell..."

A New Plan To Mutate HIV Out Of Existence

"KP-1461 uses a new drug mechanism--dubbed Viral Decay AccelerationT--to insert itself into the viral genome, increasing the frequency of mutations, until eventually the virus population collapses."

"...If it does work, it won't be a cure in the traditional sense. Patients would have to take the drug for a long time as the virus slowly mutated itself to death."

http://www.fastcoexist.com/1678419/a-new-plan-to-mutate-hiv-out-of-existence


Currently, such drug is being refined in order to be taken orally