艾滋病毒藏身胸腺，研究人员另辟蹊径探秘
路透社纽约健康消息 尽管目前已经有了有效治疗艾滋病的药物，但是藏在免疫细胞内部的病毒还是不能完全被杀灭，现在研究人员对这一机制的发生有了更进一步的了解。
美国加州的研究人员利用艾滋病病毒感染的老鼠模型来研究病毒是如何利用胸腺产生的免疫细胞藏身的。艾滋病病毒初次感染后会隐匿在免疫细胞，不易被药物杀灭，多年以后又重新在人体内肆虐。洛杉矶加利福尼亚大学的杰罗姆·扎克博士认为，这种潜在的病毒反弹就是病人为什么需要终身接受治疗的原因。
胸腺是位于胸部的一个小腺体，它可以将幼稚的免疫细胞转化成抗病毒的T细胞。扎克博士和他的同事利用老鼠模型来证明艾滋病病毒是否可以不被发现地在免疫细胞中存活下来。结果发现艾滋病病毒在转化成T细胞之前就可感染幼稚细胞，等这些细胞成熟并离开胸腺以后，艾滋病病毒仍隐藏在T细胞中未被发现。当T细胞随后聚集并激活以后，藏匿的艾滋病病毒的基因就开始启动，隐藏在体内的病毒开始发挥作用。
, http://www.100md.com
扎克的研究小组认为，这种老鼠是用来研究病毒隐藏及重新发挥作用的重要模型，可以用来评估激活隐匿病毒的药物。美国达拉斯的得克萨期大学西南医学中心的理查德 A·库普也有相类似的观点。他认为，可以设计一种治疗来激活这些隐匿的细胞然后一举歼灭它们。如果成功的话，就意味着感染的病人可以最终停止治疗。
来源：《自然医学》2001;7:404-405, 459-464
Researchers shed light on how HIV hides in thymus
NEW YORK, Apr 13 (Reuters Health) - Despite the effectiveness of current drugs against HIV, the virus avoids total destruction by hiding out in immune cells. But now, researchers are a step closer to understanding how this occurs, they report.
, 百拇医药
California investigators used a mouse model of HIV to describe how the virus takes advantage of the human immune system to lay dormant in cells produced by the thymus gland, avoiding anti-HIV drugs for years before virulently resurfacing long after initial infection.
"This potential rebound of virus is why patients must stay on medication for essentially their entire lives," lead study author Dr. Jerome Zack from University of California, Los Angeles, told Reuters Health in an interview.
, http://www.100md.com
Zack and his associates used a mouse model to determine if HIV could survive undetected in immune cells produced by the thymus gland, a small gland in the chest that converts immature immune cells into virus-fighting white blood cells called T cells.
According to their results, which are published in the April issue of Nature Medicine, HIV was able to infect the immature immune cells before they finally developed into T cells. Once the cells matured and left the thymus gland, HIV remained dormant in these T cells and went undetected.
, 百拇医药
When mature T cells were later collected from the blood and stimulated, the authors report, the genes of the hiding HIV were turned on, thereby revealing the presence of the virus and reactivating it from its dormant state.
This mouse model "may be an important model to study events important in viral latency and reactivation and to evaluate (drugs) designed to activate latent virus," Zack‘s team concludes.
Dr. Richard A. Koup from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, agreed in a related commentary. "It may be possible to design therapies that activate these cells and flush out the latent reservoir," he writes.
"If we can find agents to eliminate latent infection, it might, in conjunction with other therapies, result in removal of HIV from the body," Zack added. "If successful, this would mean that infected individuals could eventually cease taking therapy."
SOURCE: Nature Medicine 2001;7:404-405, 459-464., 百拇医药
美国加州的研究人员利用艾滋病病毒感染的老鼠模型来研究病毒是如何利用胸腺产生的免疫细胞藏身的。艾滋病病毒初次感染后会隐匿在免疫细胞，不易被药物杀灭，多年以后又重新在人体内肆虐。洛杉矶加利福尼亚大学的杰罗姆·扎克博士认为，这种潜在的病毒反弹就是病人为什么需要终身接受治疗的原因。
胸腺是位于胸部的一个小腺体，它可以将幼稚的免疫细胞转化成抗病毒的T细胞。扎克博士和他的同事利用老鼠模型来证明艾滋病病毒是否可以不被发现地在免疫细胞中存活下来。结果发现艾滋病病毒在转化成T细胞之前就可感染幼稚细胞，等这些细胞成熟并离开胸腺以后，艾滋病病毒仍隐藏在T细胞中未被发现。当T细胞随后聚集并激活以后，藏匿的艾滋病病毒的基因就开始启动，隐藏在体内的病毒开始发挥作用。
, http://www.100md.com
扎克的研究小组认为，这种老鼠是用来研究病毒隐藏及重新发挥作用的重要模型，可以用来评估激活隐匿病毒的药物。美国达拉斯的得克萨期大学西南医学中心的理查德 A·库普也有相类似的观点。他认为，可以设计一种治疗来激活这些隐匿的细胞然后一举歼灭它们。如果成功的话，就意味着感染的病人可以最终停止治疗。
来源：《自然医学》2001;7:404-405, 459-464
Researchers shed light on how HIV hides in thymus
NEW YORK, Apr 13 (Reuters Health) - Despite the effectiveness of current drugs against HIV, the virus avoids total destruction by hiding out in immune cells. But now, researchers are a step closer to understanding how this occurs, they report.
, 百拇医药
California investigators used a mouse model of HIV to describe how the virus takes advantage of the human immune system to lay dormant in cells produced by the thymus gland, avoiding anti-HIV drugs for years before virulently resurfacing long after initial infection.
"This potential rebound of virus is why patients must stay on medication for essentially their entire lives," lead study author Dr. Jerome Zack from University of California, Los Angeles, told Reuters Health in an interview.
, http://www.100md.com
Zack and his associates used a mouse model to determine if HIV could survive undetected in immune cells produced by the thymus gland, a small gland in the chest that converts immature immune cells into virus-fighting white blood cells called T cells.
According to their results, which are published in the April issue of Nature Medicine, HIV was able to infect the immature immune cells before they finally developed into T cells. Once the cells matured and left the thymus gland, HIV remained dormant in these T cells and went undetected.
, 百拇医药
When mature T cells were later collected from the blood and stimulated, the authors report, the genes of the hiding HIV were turned on, thereby revealing the presence of the virus and reactivating it from its dormant state.
This mouse model "may be an important model to study events important in viral latency and reactivation and to evaluate (drugs) designed to activate latent virus," Zack‘s team concludes.
Dr. Richard A. Koup from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, agreed in a related commentary. "It may be possible to design therapies that activate these cells and flush out the latent reservoir," he writes.
"If we can find agents to eliminate latent infection, it might, in conjunction with other therapies, result in removal of HIV from the body," Zack added. "If successful, this would mean that infected individuals could eventually cease taking therapy."
SOURCE: Nature Medicine 2001;7:404-405, 459-464., 百拇医药
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