Protein discovered that prevents HIV from spreading

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Sticky situation. HIV-1 particles (dark circles) lacking Vpu are unable to extricate themselves from the surface of their host cell. Instead tetherin keeps them locked to the surface of the cells outer membrane or causes them to be sucked back in and ...
Sticky situation. HIV-1 particles (dark circles) lacking Vpu are unable to extricate themselves from the surface of their host cell. Instead, tetherin keeps them locked to the surface of the cell’s outer membrane, or causes them to be sucked back in and digested by the cell’s endosomes. Credit: Rockefeller University

In a study that could open up the field of virology to an entirely new suite of possibilities and that paves the way for future drug research, scientists at Rockefeller University and the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center have pinned down a molecule on the surface of human cells that helps keep particles of mutant strains of HIV from spreading.


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