Outing the intruder (Image: Voisin/Phanie/Rex Features)
REMOVING a chemical “invisibility cloak” that makes HIV-infected cells look healthy might be the key to ridding people of the virus.
Human cells protect themselves against immune attack by displaying proteins on their surface that mark them as “self”. When the immune system detects these proteins, it holds back. One way HIV evades immune attack is by hijacking one of these proteins – CD59 – and using it to disguise itself and the cells it infects as healthy, human cells.
This cloak doesn’t kick in directly following HIV infection. First, antigens on HIV’s surface prompt…
