hiv aids

The molecular structure of HIV Pol, a protein that plays a vital role in the late stages of HIV replication, or the process by which the virus propagates and spreads throughout the body, has been discovered by scientists.

Importantly, identifying the structure of the molecule helps to solve long-standing issues regarding how the protein separates itself to promote the replication process. The study shows a new viral weakness that might be exploited with medications.

“We obtained a new knowledge of the method by which HIV replicates by viewing the molecular architecture of Pol,” says co-senior author Dmitry Lyumkis, assistant professor in the Laboratory of Genetics and Hearst Foundation Developmental Chair at Salk.

Previously, scientists knew that HIV Pol, a polyprotein, splits into three enzymes — a protease, reverse transcriptase, and integrase — that work together to build the virus’s mature form. The protease enzyme is essential in starting this process by breaking up the molecule and separating the other components.

However, it was previously unknown how the protease, first from the bigger polyprotein HIV Gag-Pol and later from HIV Pol, accomplishes its activity.

According to the latest study, the protease commences the process by self-cleaving or cutting itself away from the remainder of the molecule, with the help of reverse transcriptase and potentially integrase.

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“It was previously recognised (but not understood) that there is a connection between these enzymes prior to HIV Pol breaking apart.” The visualisation of the HIV Pol structure shows the basis for this complicated process,” says co-senior author Eddy Arnold, board of governors professor and distinguished professor at Rutgers University’s Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine.

“The initial issue was creating a stable form of HIV Pol so that the structure could be examined,” explains co-first author Jerry Joe Harrison, senior lecturer at the University of Ghana.

“This was a critical missing piece of the HIV structural puzzle,” Arnold says.

The researchers revealed the three-dimensional structure of the HIV pol protein molecule using cryogenic electron microscopy, an imaging technology to which Lyumkis has made significant contributions. This led to the finding that Pol is a dimer, which means it is made up of two proteins that are joined together. The discovery was surprising because other viral proteins are single-protein assemblages.

The researchers demonstrated that the protease component of Pol is “loosely linked” to the reverse transcriptase component in a binding conformation that allows the protease to be somewhat flexible.

“It’s holding the protease at arm’s length, loosely,” says co-first author Dario Passos, a former researcher in Lyumkis’ lab at Salk. “We believe that gives the protease a little bit of movement, which in turn allows it to initiate the cutting of polyproteins, which is a prerequisite for viral maturation.”

“Current HIV medicines include different types of inhibitors for all three enzymes, and the discovery also shows a new vulnerability that medications might target.”

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What is HIV and how does it affect you?
HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that affects cells in the body that help it fight infections, leaving a person more susceptible to other infections and illnesses. Contact with specific body fluids of an HIV-positive individual, most often during unprotected intercourse (sex without the use of a condom or HIV treatment to prevent or treat HIV), or sharing injectable drug equipment spreads the virus.

If HIV is not treated, it can progress to AIDS.
HIV cannot be eradicated by the human body, and there is no effective HIV treatment. As a result, if you have HIV, you will have it for the rest of your life.

People with HIV, on the other hand, can live long and healthy lives while preventing HIV transmission to their sexual partners by taking HIV treatment (also known as antiretroviral therapy or ART). There are other successful techniques for preventing HIV infection through sex or drug use, such as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) (PEP).

HIV is the source of one of humanity’s deadliest and longest-running epidemics, having been discovered in 1981.

What is AIDS and how does it affect you?

AIDS is a late stage of HIV infection in which the immune system of the body has been severely compromised by the virus.

Most patients with HIV in the United States do not acquire AIDS because they take their HIV medication on a daily basis as advised. When a person with HIV has advanced to AIDS, it means they have: The quantity of CD4 lymphocytes in their blood drops below 200 cells per cubic millimetre (200 cells/mm3). (CD4 levels range from 500 to 1,600 cells/mm3 in those who have a healthy immune system.) OR

Regardless of their CD4 level, patients get at least one opportunistic infection. People with AIDS have a 3-year survival rate if they don’t take HIV medication. When a person is diagnosed with a potentially fatal opportunistic infection, they must seek medical help immediately.

People with AIDS have a three-year survival rate if they do not take HIV medication. Without treatment, a person’s life expectancy drops to around a year after contracting a serious opportunistic infection. At this stage of HIV infection, HIV treatment can still aid patients, and it can even save their lives. People who begin antiretroviral therapy (ART) as soon as they are diagnosed with HIV benefit more, which is why HIV testing is so crucial.

How To Diagnose If I Have HIV?

Testing is the only way to know for sure if you have HIV. Testing is a straightforward process. You can request an HIV test from your health-care practitioner. They are also available at many medical clinics, substance addiction programmes, community health centres, and hospitals. A home testing kit can also be purchased at a drugstore or online.

Use the HIV Services Locator to find an HIV testing site near you.

Self-testing for HIV is also a possibility. Self-testing allows consumers to take an HIV test at home or in a private environment and receive their results. A self-test kit can be purchased at a drugstore or online. Self-test kits are also available for free from some health departments or community-based groups.

The FDA fact sheet on the OraQuick In-Home HIV Test, which is the only FDA-approved in-home HIV test, may be found here.

A study claims that ensuring healthcare staff have a better understanding of the psychological, social, and physical effects of shame on HIV patients will improve their medical treatment.
Doctors and nurses should be more aware of how stigma and shame can contribute to poor health, particularly in the case of chronic illnesses like HIV.
Shame can operate as a persistent stressor in the body, causing psychobiological alterations that might worsen health ailments. It can also result in a variety of behaviours and results that can have a negative impact on medical therapy.

“If we want to understand how health-related stigma, and its related social phenomena, are experienced by an individual and how this might impact on health-related behavior and health outcomes, then we must understand how stigma-related shame is experienced.

“Theorizing the potential for shame, or shame anxiety, as a structural possibility in experiences of stigma may be a powerful means to understand the mechanisms through which stigma can cause distress and exacerbate negative health outcomes.”

Professor Dolezal examined how Welsh rugby player Gareth Thomas publicly disclosed his status as HIV-positive in 2019. He decided to make a public statement because there was a possibility that his HIV status would be revealed without his consent.

In his emotive testimony in a Twitter video and subsequent media interviews and a BBC documentary he described what it is like to live with the fear of being found out. He described his reasons for concealing his illness, and the anticipated consequences of its revelation, and how he wanted to discuss his HIV diagnosis to lift the burden of shame.

The study, published in the journal lambda nordica, argues that when people feel the threat of shameful exposure regarding their HIV status they can feel “immobilized” because their possibilities for action, engagement, and sociality may be reduced. They can be disempowered socially and politically. This is compounded by intense negative feelings regarding oneself and one’s social standing.