AIDS researchers discover a weak link in HIV-infected cells

Schematic representation of CD4 T lymphocytes (in purple). Left: the CD4 T lymphocyte with significant metabolic activity is infected with HIV (in green). Right: the CD4 T lymphocyte has no metabolic activity and therefore cannot be infected. Credit: Institut Pasteur / Nicolas Huot By exploiting how HIV attacks a cell, researchers hope to ‘starve’ out the virus without hurting other cells. A team of French biologists took one more step toward progress with their recent AIDS/HIV research. A group from Institut Pasteur selectively killed cells where HIV hid from antiretroviral drugs. This could open doors to new drugs and new HIV treatments for infected persons.  HIV returns to a person when they stop taking antiretroviral therapy. The virus hides within HIV-immune T cells. The French study published in a recent edition of Cell Metabolism explained that HIV often infects T cells with higher metabolic activity.  The researchers noted that T cells with that higher metabolic activity —...