In a major development, which may pave the way for new drugs to combat HIV, scientists have discovered how the virus propagates itself through the body. A key part of HIV's success is a trick to propagate itself inside the body, researchers said. According to the study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , once HIV has infected a cell, it forces the cell to make a little capsule out of its own membrane, filled with the virus. The capsule pinches off – a process called "budding" – and floats away to infect more cells.
Once inside another unsuspecting cell, the capsule coating falls apart, and the HIV RNA gets to work. When infected with the HIV virus, humans cannot produce the required antibodies to kill it, which is why a cure has been a challenge to develop. Scientists knew that budding involves an HIV protein complex called Gag protein, but the…
