Your mitochondrial DNA could determine how quickly you develop AIDS if infected with HIV (Image: Steve McAlister/The Image Bank/Getty)
HOW quickly HIV explodes into AIDS might depend on an individual’s DNA. Some variations in the DNA in mitochondria, the parts of cells that generate energy, seem to make AIDS develop twice as fast as others.
Stephen O’Brien from the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, Maryland, and colleagues examined data from five long-term studies tracking a total of 1833 people with HIV during the 80s and early 90s. This was before antiretroviral therapy (HAART) was commonly used, so the team…
