Immune System Killer Mechanism Identified

traveller.ct writes "Researchers from Melbourne and London have identified the mechanism by which the immune system destroys malignant cells. The notion of killer cells puncturing a malignant cell to inject toxic enzymes has been understood for over a century, but now, using the Australian Synchrotron, researchers have identified the protein which is responsible for forming a pore in the malignant cell: perforin. Perforin resembles the cellular weaponry employed by bacteria such as anthrax, but may have been appropriated by our immune system in our evolutionary past to fight against them. The researchers are now investigating ways to boost perforin for more effective cancer protection and therapy for acute diseases such as cerebral malaria."

Better HIV drugs

[antifoidulus]

I wonder if this finding will help researchers develop better anti HIV drugs. Part of the reason that HIV is almost impossible to remove from the body is its ability to remain latent, HIV viruses don't always start producing new virons and killing the cell right away, sometimes they enter a cell and essentially just sit there, sometimes for up to 5 years. Ordinarily the cell would be marked for execution, but HIV(and other viruses, notably the herpes family) somehow prevent the cell from making the chemicals necessary to let the immune system know that it's time to die. This is why people on HIV treatment can have 0 viral load(the amount of virus in a particular blood sample), but still be infected. They still have HIV just kind of hanging out in a very small number of cells.

I read a few years back(sorry cannot find the article) that they had some luck using epilepsy medication in combination with a huge dose of anti-HIV medication, patients saw about a 75% reduction in the number of infected cells, but the side effects were so severe that they discontinued the study. Not a single person was totally cured. I wonder if its possible to use the information gathered here to help determine how HIV prevents cell death and how we can stop this.