New discovery of how HIV functions may lead to treatment

Every new thing that scientists learn about how sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) function brings them one step closer to developing more vaccines and medications. HIV has proven to be a condition that is particularly difficult to create effective treatments for, as the virus is constantly evolving. 

Recently, researchers may have found a new clue to what makes this disease function. Scientists from George Mason University discovered the process of how HIV infects healthy T cells, which leads to the development of AIDS. Rather than killing immune cells, the virus hijacks them, and now researchers believe that they have identified that factor that allows this to happen.

Scientists were able to take this factor and mimic its affect, and created human T cells that were resistant to infection. This method may be a more effective treatment, because the HIV virus will have a more difficult time developing a resistance to it.

"We will continue to study the molecular details and to use those discoveries to develop new diagnostic and therapeutic tools to monitor and treat HIV-mediated T cell dysfunction and depletion," said scientist Yuntao Wu.