Ability of HIV to Cause AIDS is Slowing

Leah Brandstein
Source: Oxford University
Published: December 2, 2014

Link:http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2014-12-02-ability-hiv-cause-aids-slowing

Summary: This article details an Oxford University study on effects of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and presence of the gene HLA-B*57 on HIV. HIV rapidly evolves, thus developing resistance to human’s natural immunity, but this resistance slows HIVs ability to cause AIDS. Research on this topic was done with over two thousand women with chronic HIV in Botswana and South Africa.  There is a protein in human blood called human leukocyte antigen (HLA) that allows the body to differentiate between proteins of the human body and proteins of pathogens. Specifically, there is a gene called HLA-B*57, a kind of HLA protein, which helps protect against HIV, slowing the progress of AIDS. Where HIV has adapted to HLA-B*57, the gene is no longer beneficial. However, this adaptation significantly lowers the virus’s virulence and ability to replicate. Regarding the effects of ART on HIV virulence, the research suggests that when ART is given to combat more virulent HIV, the HIV evolves but is weakened in its ability to replicate. In conclusion, 'HIV adaptation to the most effective immune responses we can make against it comes at a significant cost to its ability to replicate,' -lead scientist Professor Phillip Goulder, University of Oxford.

Connection: This article relates to what we have been learning in biology in several ways. We are currently learning about evolution and adaptations in chapter fourteen. Here the HIV had to adapt to survive in various environments. The HIV which was best suited to the environment would survive and replicate. Although in adapting the HIVs ability to replicate was lowered, this adaptation was necessary to best survive under these conditions. Then, in chapter eleven, we learned about viruses. “A virus is a package of nucleic acid wrapped in a protein coat,” and viruses can only reproduce by infecting living cells with their genetic material. HIV or human immunodeficiency virus is a kind of virus which causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Lastly, this article talks about the HLA-B*57 gene, which helps slow the progression of AIDS. However, not all people infected with HIV have this gene. This connects to what we learned in chapter ten, about inheritance following rules of chance and about genetic diversity existing within a species; thus, not everyone has the exact same form of the HLA protein present.