Increased knowledge about the doorways HIV uses to enter cells has opened up new avenues of inquiry for AIDS researchers. They have also identified proteins, called ligands, that latch onto these entrances and found genetic mutations that create immunity. This flurry of findings about the way HIV infiltrates cells has prompted researchers to look for therapies that stem the spread of the virus to healthy cells. Small molecules that bind to and block chemokine receptors provides one strategy for controlling the spread of HIV, notes Aaron Diamond's Nathaniel Landau.
Protease inhibitors attack the virus once it has successfully infiltrated the cell.
By contrast, chemokine receptor interventions aim for the entrances the virus uses to infiltrate the cell. They're a fixed target. Finding small molecules to bind to, and thus block, chemokine receptors presents the best odds of success among the three therapies, according to Nathaniel R. Landau, staff investigator with the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, which now is part of Rockefeller University in New York. These studies also indicate that people without CCR5 are healthy. Cases of HIV-infected individuals seemingly resistant to the onset of AIDS fed the competitive fire of research teams searching for ways to thwart the disease.