Watching HIV spread from cell to cell

Things like this just turn on my nerd switch.

ResearchBlogging.orgA new study, published in Science, used amazing molecular techniques to film HIV spreading from one cell to another.

See for yourself:

The breakthrough footage was obtained by creating a molecular clone of HIV which included fluorescent genetic code that glows green under blue light. In the video, you can see the infected T-cell interact and infect a healthy one by creating what is called a virological synapse - which is a fancy word for a tunnel of sorts between the two cells.

Before the video, scientists didn't know that the virus particles moved primarily through that kind of cell to cell connection. The synapses had been discovered in 2004, but it was still believed the primary means of transmission was through freely circulating viruses. Thus current searches for cures focus on attacking when HIV is outside of cells - which, in light of this footage, is doomed to be fail to stop the spread of the infection. It explains why our vaccine attempts, which target the viruses themselves, haven't succeeded, as the virus stays protected while spreading by its host cells. The diverse team from UC Davis and Mount Sinai School of Medicine hope that the new knowledge could open up novel treatments for the virulent disease. The new vaccines could target the synapses themselves, or proteins required to form them. This discovery could prove key to finally getting ahead of a pathogen which has killed over 25 million people worldwide and currently infects somewhere around 35 million people.

Hubner, W., McNerney, G., Chen, P., Dale, B., Gordon, R., Chuang, F., Li, X., Asmuth, D., Huser, T., & Chen, B. (2009). Quantitative 3D Video Microscopy of HIV Transfer Across T Cell Virological Synapses Science, 323 (5922), 1743-1747 DOI: 10.1126/science.1167525

More like this

It's amazing what the kids are up to these days. This one comes live from Mount Sinai (my present educational residence). Hubner et al., publishing in Science, use an infectious, fluorescent strain of HIV to watch the virus move from one cell to another. Their results are fascinating and may…
You are outnumbered by a factor of 10 to one, by forces you cannot see. Your body has around ten trillion cells, but it's also home to a hundred trillion bacteria. For every gene in your genome, there are 100 bacterial ones. Most of these are found the dark, dank environment of your bowel but their…
The autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), including autism and its milder cousin Asperger syndrome, affect about 1 in 150 American children. There's a lot of evidence that these conditions have a strong genetic basis. For example, identical twins who share the same DNA are much more likely to both…
The Mars rover Opportunity has explored Victoria crater, a ~750-meter eroded impact crater formed in sulfate-rich sedimentary rocks. Impact-related stratigraphy is preserved in the crater walls, and meteoritic debris is present near the crater rim. The size of hematite-rich concretions decreases…