A team of British researchers discovered that the SAMHD1 protein prevents the virus from replicating itself within these cells, paving the way for development of drugs that imitate this biological process to ensure that HIV cannot replicate in the sentinel cells of the immune system.

A research funded with €5.4 million under the Health Theme of the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) through the NIMBL ('Nuclease immune mediated brain and Lupus-like conditions: natural history, pathophysiology, diagnostic and therapeutic modalities with application to other disorders of autoimmunity') project, published new data on how the body's proteins can fight the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1).

In particular, the researchers have demonstrated how a protein named SAMHD1 prevents the virus from replicating itself within these cells, paving the way for development of drugs that imitate this biological process to ensure that HIV cannot replicate in the sentinel cells of the immune system.

According to one of the research authors, HIV is one of the most common chronic infectious diseases on the planet, so understanding its biology is critical to the development of novel antiviral compounds. Therefore, if scientists can stop the virus from replicating within these cells, they can prevent it from spreading to other cells and halt the progress of the infection.