Scientists find secret of HIV attack

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health in the US said last week that they had isolated a cofactor that allows HIV to penetrate CD4 T cells and other target cells in humans. The discovery was announced in the 10 May issue of Science (272:872-7) by Dr Edward Berger, chief of the molecular structure section of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Laboratory of Viral Diseases. Berger and his colleagues have named the cofactor “fusin.”

“This is a very important study,” said Dr Anthony Fauci, head of the NIAID, who added that the discovery “suggests a whole new area for …