SFU scientists contribute to HIV breakthrough

published on June 11, 2012 in Vancouver Sun

Scientists have discovered why a small minority of people are naturally resistant to the virus that causes AIDS, a finding that could be key to creating a vaccine.

Researchers from Simon Fraser University and their colleagues in the United States, Japan and Germany found the secret lies not in the number of infection-killing cells a person has, but in how well they work. In a small number of people, a strain of “killer” cells called cytotoxic T lymphocyte cells can detect and kill HIV-infected white blood cells.

Until now, it has been well known that people with HIV “have tons of these killer cells,” said Bruce Walker, an infectious diseases expert at the Ragon Institute in Massachusetts.

“We have been scratching our heads since then, asking how, with so many killer cells around, people are getting AIDS. It turns out there is a special quality that makes them [some cells] better at killing.”

SFU researchers Mark Brockman and Zabrina Brumme worked with doctors at the Ragon Institute to design the study comparing how people progressed from HIV to AIDS.

“We know different people will progress to AIDS in a varying amount of time. Some people progress very quickly and some very slowly,” said Brockman. “The Boston lab is interested in people progressing the slowest.”

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BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS

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SFU scientists contribute to HIV breakthrough

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