Sao Paulo - A new technique developed by U.S. researchers to combat the proliferation of HIV-infected cells proved to be promising in controlling the virus in mice. Scientists at the Beckman Research Institute, USA, have developed in the laboratory a combination of RNA molecules which, when applied in the blood of mice, and seek to invade the HIV-infected cells while preserving healthy cells.The results have just been published by the journal Science. The combined molecule acts as a kind of guided missile: to locate diseased cells, it binds to the capsule that surrounds HIV and initiates a process of degradation of the virus. "The RNA assumes a specific form, which binds selectively to the shell protein of HIV," said the report by e-mail, Professor John J.
Rossi, an author of the study. The researchers left immunodeficient mice, they injected human cells healthy and then HIV. There was a sharp drop in concentrations of HIV, indicating a blockade of virus multiplication. "It's the first time that a group can perform this experiment in living cells in an animal model," says infectious disease Esper Kallas, University of São Paulo (USP).
For him, the results can serve for other diseases. "Theoretically, we can apply the technique to other viruses, even for something related to cancer."
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