Protein linked to Alzheimer's disease also has role in HIV progression

The apolipoprotein (apo) E4 isoform has been implicated in neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease, cardiovascular disease, and stroke. Now, investigators at the Gladstone Institutes, the University of California, San Francisco, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and the Infectious Disease Clinical Research Program, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, Maryland have shown that this troubling protein is a risk factor for AIDS progression rates and promotes entry of HIV into cells. The study was published in today's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (PNAS).