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ucsdhealthsciences: Newly Discovered HIV Genome Modification May Put a Twist on Vaccine and Drug Design Crucial HIV RNA modification called m6A influences viral replication, but wasn’t previously taken into consideration when developing anti-HIV therapies Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered that HIV infection of human immune cells triggers a massive increase in methylation, a chemical modification, to both human and viral RNA, aiding replication of the virus. The study, published February 22, 2016 in Nature Microbiology, identifies a new mechanism for controlling HIV replication and its interaction with the host immune system. “We and other colleagues at pharmaceutical companies have worked over the years to develop drugs targeting HIV’s genetic material, its RNA, but we never made it to the clinic,” said senior author Tariq Rana, PhD, professor of pediatrics at UC San Diego School of Medicine. “Now we know why — we were developing drugs using RNA targets that didn’t have these modifications, when in reality the RNA was different.” In human cells, RNA is the genetic material that carries instructions from the DNA in a cell’s nucleus out to the cytoplasm, where molecular machinery uses those instructions to build proteins. In contrast, HIV’s entire genome is made up of RNA, not DNA. The virus hijacks its host’s cellular machinery to translate its RNA to proteins. Pictured: HIV infrected cells courtesy of NCMIR. Keep reading
