Infection with the AIDS virus has resulted in millions of lost and broken lives. Sometimes good can come out of a bad situation. In a recent Science (Sept. 3, 1999) article titled, "In vivo Protein Transduction: Delivery of a Biologically Active Protein into the Mouse" researchers reported that an AIDS viral protein can bring other proteins into living cells. This AIDS virus protein is called tat and is an enzyme that helps in the making of viral RNA. This protein does not help the virus infect cells so using it would not cause people to get AIDS.
This tat protein could enable scientists to study and treat diseases that they were unable to do anything with before. Damage to proteins causes many human diseases, including cancer and genetically inherited disorders as sickle cell anemia, cystic fibrosis, and phenylketonuria. Inserting a working version of the damaged protein into affected cells could help in treating such illnesses. Before these experiments this would have been impossible. The cells of our body do not allow large bulky proteins to enter in. However, when these researchers connected a portion of the tat protein to two different bulky proteins they were able to get those proteins inside the cells of mice. This discovery may give new hope to patients with protein damaging diseases. For an excellent article on these studies go to the following article from the Howard Hughs Medical Institute.
Take Care and Think Microbiologically!
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