HIV gets a makeover: A few adjustments to the AIDS virus could alter the course of research

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Tweaking HIV. A newly engineered version of the AIDS virus dubbed stHIV replicates robustly in rhesus monkey cells.
Tweaking HIV. A newly engineered version of the AIDS virus, dubbed stHIV, replicates robustly in rhesus monkey cells.

The slow pace of AIDS research can be pinned, in no small part, on something akin to the square-peg-round-hole conundrum. The HIV-1 virus won’t replicate in monkey cells, so researchers use a monkey virus — known as SIVmac, or the macaque version of simian immunodeficiency virus — to test potential therapies and vaccines in animals. But therapies and vaccines that are effective on SIV don’t necessarily translate into human success.


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