In the process of developing a vaccine that stimulates the immune response to prevent HIV infection, researchers are working to find or produce special antibodies that can neutralize the virus. These broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) are eventually produced in about 50% of HIV-infected patients, but because the production process is too slow, and because the HIV virus is repeatedly mutated and inserted, the effect is not obvious. I resist HIV. In the patient's genome.
If you find a way to produce bnAb before HIV infection, you can stop the HIV virus you encounter. Recently, researchers at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute successfully discovered an important protein. Very aggressive towards the people who created bnAb. This protein called RAB11FIP5 is related to changes in the distribution and function of natural killer cells, which are the first immune cells to respond to viral infections. Natural killer cells also play an important role in autoimmune diseases. The senior author of the study, Barton Haynes of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute, said: "It was previously unknown whether this immune cell can regulate bnAb. "We found out. A new way for natural killer cells to carry cargo, which seems to play an important regulatory role in controlling the production of bnAb. "
Haynes and one of his colleagues designed an experiment to analyze HIV-infected and uninfected people who can produce bnAb. Molecular differences in infected persons. They analyzed 239 infected individuals and found that they were in almost two extreme situations. Half of the bnAb has a high level, and the other half has a low level. The researchers used RNA sequences to determine the differences between the molecules involved in antibody production, and found significant differences in RAB11FIP5 gene expression. The author of the article, Todd Bradley, said: "These data indicate that natural killer cells regulate the production of bnAb, and Rab11 is a modulator of HIV antibody response." "This is a new signal transduction pathway, and we hope to be able to This approach is tailored during the vaccination process to produce a better HIV antibody response."