NIH research helps explain how antibody treatment led to sustained remission of HIV-like virus

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health have found that the presence of the protein alpha-4 beta-7 integrin on the surface of HIV and its monkey equivalent — simian immunodeficiency virus, or SIV — may help explain why an antibody protected monkeys from SIV in previous experiments. In October 2016, researchers reported that they had achieved sustained SIV remission in monkeys using a monkey antibody similar to the human drug vedolizumab, which is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treating ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. The mechanism behind this observation has been unclear, but a new report presented today at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Seattle provides clues. Scientists have known that alpha-4 beta-7 integrin is a gut-homing receptor present at high levels on the immune-system cells that HIV and SIV preferentially infect. In the new study, scientists found that maturing HIV and SIV particles acquire...