Understand before acting and hope, in the long term, to counter the disease. French researchers from the start-up Diaccurate, hosted at the Institut Pasteur, have just made a major discovery concerning AIDS, this disease characterized by the collapse of the body's immune reactions. Thanks to their work, researchers now know more about the mechanism of paralysis of the immune system in people infected with HIV. We now know that it would have as key a digestive enzyme present in all human beings.
The transformation of an enzyme at the center of attention
According to the researchers, HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, transforms this enzyme, a protein, into a kind of "weapon of war". This is because the enzyme works in conjunction with a fragment of the virus to attack white blood cells. Consequence: the patient's immune system does not work and is paralyzed.
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Thanks to this discovery, the researchers plan to attack this enzyme directly, preventing it from transforming and thus attacking the immune system.
An antibody developed
An antibody has also been developed to neutralize this enzyme in the event of infection. The process currently works in vitro on mice. We must therefore still wait to analyze possible results on humans.
The first clinical trial will take place in 18 months. It will first be performed in oncology and then only for HIV infections. In France, more than 170,000 people are living with HIV today.