Structure of T cell epitopes a decisive factor in natural HIV control, study finds

published on May 13, 2019 by Annie Young | Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, in MIT News

Researchers apply network theory to HIV protein structure, uncovering a vital link between connectivity and protective immune response.

In 2017, nearly 37 million people were living with HIV worldwide, according to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). Current treatments for the virus, which becomes AIDS in its most advanced stage, involve a combination of drugs known as antiretroviral therapy (ART). For those who know they have the virus and are receiving treatment, ART can help to reduce viral loads to undetectable — and therefore untransmittable — levels, allowing individuals to stay healthy for years. Today, regular ART treatment is the only known course for stopping the spread of HIV.

Although effective, treatment as prevention, scientists say, is a far cry from a preventive HIV vaccine: There are an estimated 5,000 new cases of HIV per day. A safe and affordable vaccine administered to individuals before they become infected would significantly lower the number of new cases, at a minimum. At best, it would eradicate the virus entirely, on a global scale.

In a paper published in Science, researchers from the lab of Bruce Walker, director of the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, and professor of the practice at the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES), hit upon a unique approach to understanding the immune responses of individuals who exhibit a natural ability to suppress HIV, key to developing a vaccine.

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Structure of T cell epitopes a decisive factor in natural HIV control, study finds

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