Grant: New Investigator Award - PA: HIV/AIDS Biomedical/Clinical Research

Infection by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can lead to a progressive deterioration of the body's immune system. AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) represents the stage when HIV-infected individuals become susceptible to common pathogens that are normally destroyed by the immune system of healthy individuals. Although HIV is capable of evading detection by the body's immune system, several factors exist nevertheless that can protect us against HIV infection. One of these endogenous antiviral factors is a protein called APOBEC3G that is part of the innate component of the human immune system. This protein can bind and heavily mutate HIV DNA, ultimately leading to the inactivation and destruction of the virus. APOBEC3G has also other very powerful, but less characterized methods for blocking HIV infection that are tightly regulated by yet unidentified cellular factors. In most circumstances, these factors maintain APOBEC3G in an inactive state thus preventing APOBEC3G to fully deploy its potent antiviral effect on HIV. This research project will enable us to identify these factors and further our understanding of how they interact with APOBEC3G. This work will hopefully establish new therapeutic targets and contribute to the development of a new generation of molecules capable of recruiting one's own innate immune system to fight and prevent HIV infection. Regulating and recruiting the full antiviral potential of APOBEC3G could undoubtedly not only inactivate infectious HIV particles in HIV/AIDS patients but also help prevent HIV infections in high-risk individuals.