human blood component is able to prevent the breeding immunodeficiency virus and can become a fundamentally new cure dangerous disease. The peptide molecule, after a minor modification transformed into an effective antiviral agent, was discovered by specialists from the University of Ulm (Germany).

According to scientists, the new compound acts on the virus differently than modern antiretroviral drugs. Preliminary data indicate that the modified peptide is able to resist both drug-resistant forms of the virus.

In the course of a long research, scientists have studied the properties of a huge number of biochemical compounds that can in some way reduce the activity of the human immunodeficiency virus in human blood. As a result, they settled on a small molecule of protein nature, called virus-inhibitor peptide (VIRP).

Minor changes in the amino acid structure of VIRP led to the fact that its antiviral properties increased by two orders of magnitude. Subsequent tests have shown that some variants of VIRP can retain their structure in plasma for a long time without causing a toxic effect even at very high concentrations. Synthetic versions of VIRP had the same antiviral properties, which makes it possible to exclude participation in the suppression of the virus of other, unknown scientists, blood components.

Scientists have also established that the target of VIRP is the immunosuppressive envelope polysaccharide, responsible for the entry of the virus into the cell.

According to experts, the study of German scientists is currently at an early stage, but its preliminary results give grounds to expect to create in the future a new class of drugs to combat HIV / AIDS. The need for such drugs is very high, because due to the unusually high variability of the virus, modern antiretroviral therapies may soon lose effectiveness.

Medicinform. Net.

Keywords:.