Investigators detail HIV's fatal handshake
Cohen, J.
Science 274(5287): 502
1996
ISSN/ISBN: 0036-8075 PMID: 8928003 Document Number: 457961
A report in this issue of Science provides a detailed picture of the complex interactions that take place when HIV and white blood cells meet. The study reveals a multistage interplay between HIV and two receptors found on the surface of white blood cells. The results demonstrate that after binding to the CD4 receptor, the virus fuses with a molecule recently renamed CXCR4, which normally binds to immune-system chemicals called chemokines. This double clasp may signal the receptors to admit the virus into the cell. This finding is far from proven, but researchers are now imagining new ways of locking out the virus, which may ultimately help infected and uninfected people.