According to the scientists certain cells in the body are capable of counteracting the attack of HIV virus. They starve this infection virus of the essential material they live on.

Viruses live on other cells and transform them to virus production factories as they are unable to duplicate all by their own self.

A research was printed in Nature Immunology and it depicted that certain parts of immune system wipe out their essential materials required for them. They do this to put an end to HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus).

But the experts have issued a warning that it is not sure if this can be integrated in therapy.

This virus attacks immune system and deteriorates defense system of the body to the extent that even the daily infections become terminal.

Every part of the defense system is not weakened by the virus. The ones which are resistant are macrophages and dendritic cells. These have significant part in coordinating answer to immune system.

Reserves

This resistance’s important part is protein SAMHD1 which was known by the scientists in the previous year. And, now the researchers are of the belief that they know everything related to its working.

The protein has capability to disintegrate the DNA’s building blocks. For a cell to replicate, it needs to have large reserves of the building blocks. This large reserve known as dNTPs or deoxynucleoside triphosphates creates new replication of DNA. It might also be utilized by the virus.

SAMHD1 reduced dNTPs level to the extent which didn’t favor growth of viral DNA and prohibited infection. This was the finding of a research by an international group of scientists. Once these scientists eliminated SAMHD1, these cells had increased dNTPs level and became infected from HIV virus.

As mentioned in the report- “By depleting the pool of available dNTPs, SAMHD1 effectively starves the virus of a building block that is central to its replication strategy.”

Dendritic and macrophages cells can easily manufacture SAMHD1 because they are “mature cells” and don’t create new cells.

According to one of the scientists from University of Rochester Medical Center, Prof. Baek Kim- “”It makes sense that a mechanism like this is active in macrophages.”

“Macrophages literally eat up dangerous organisms, and you don’t want those organisms to have available the cellular machinery needed to replicate and macrophages themselves don’t need it, because they don’t replicate.”

“So macrophages have SAMHD1 to get rid of the raw material those organisms need to copy themselves. It’s a great host defence.”

Virologist at the Medical Research Council National Institute of Medical Research, Dr. Jonathan Stoye was a member of the team that figured out SAMHD1’s chemical structure. This discovery was made in the previous year which estimated that it will hit dNTPs.

“We hypothesised that it works in this fashion and the paper tells us we were right. It is depleting cells of these dNTPs, in cells which are not proliferating (dividing).”

Replication of some cells becomes essential to increase the number as an immune defense’s part like CD4 cells, the main intention for HIV infection.

Dr. Stoye opined that- “Cells which are proliferating would be in trouble if we took dNTPs away”. And, said that- “How we can use the anti-retroviral action of this protein is not clear to me.”