5 amino acids separate those who survived the dreadful disease from those who succumbed to the HIV virus. The Boston Globe reported that a study was published in the Science journal decoding the genes of people who had been infected with HIV but had no signs of the disease. The international team stationed in Boston stated that the variant gene produces the amino acids that causes small changes in the surface of HIV-infected cells that alters the "controller's" immuno-response to it.
The research involved comparing genes of 974 controllers and 2,648 patients that did develop the symptoms and spanned from the early 90's. This amazing discovery can lead to gene treatments and even vaccines for the virus says experts.
I think it's pretty eerie that we were just talking about variance in class and this article came about. The information from this study surely adds to the tool belt that can help further research in this battle. It may be too early but at least it's a start. I just hope it's not too good to be true since the article didn't go into specifics and I can't find any other sources other than this article. Then again, it may just be a delay from the Science Journal.
I have heard something kind of similar to this a few years ago. I think I had heard that scientist knew that there were some people exposed to HIV but for some reason were never infected or there were also people that upon testing, were found to have the virus but it didn't have any lasting effects. It was believed then that these people were immune to HIV/AIDS. It's interesting because if scientists can get to the root of why these people didn't suffer from HIV/AIDS then perhaps that could potentially lead to treatments and/or possibly a cure for the virus.
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