New drug candidates show promise to reverse HIV immune evasion

Mar 19 2024University of Pittsburgh

Thomas Smithgall, Ph.D., senior author, the William S. McEllroy Professor and former chair of the Pitt School of Medicine's Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics So the research team took a different approach. Rather than pursuing a drug molecule that might only block one or two Nef functions, they looked for a compound that would mark it for degradation in infected cells. Degrading the Nef protein would block all of its functions, including HIV infection and replication. In addition, HIV antigens would be restored to the surface of infected cells, revealing them to the immune system for destruction.

The research was funded in part with a small business technology transfer grant from the National Institutes of Health intended to bring academic scientists together with small businesses, in this case FCTDI, which is based in Doylestown, Pa. The highly competitive grants aim to accelerate commercialization of promising discoveries so that they are translated into the clinic faster.

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Drug candidate may 'unmask' latent HIV-infected cells, mark them for destructionUniversity of Pittsburgh School of Medicine scientists have identified drug candidates that show promise to reverse the ability of HIV to escape detection by the immune system.
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