Intelligent design: Engineered protein fragment blocks the AIDS virus from entering cells
Thursday, March 31, 2011 - 13:31
in Biology & Nature
In what could be a potential breakthrough in the battle against AIDS and a major development in the rational design of new drugs, scientists have engineered a new protein that prevents the virus from entering cells. This protein is based on a naturally occurring protein in the body that protects cells from viruses, except the man-made version does not cause inflammation and other side effects at the dosages needed to inhibit AIDS. This discovery was published in the April 2011 issue of The FASEB Journal.