Researchers Say #HIV Has A Sweet Tooth

HIV Radio Minute

I love chocolate, and lemon ice box pie, and pecan pie, and those little birthday shakes from the chicken place that rhymes with Taxbees…
I’m Josh Robbins and this is the HIV RADIO Minute.
Besides some people saying that my weakness is that I own a house in vermot— I’d argue that my sweet tooth takes the top spot.
Well researchers in a new study from Northwestern Medicine and Vanderbilt University say that HIV’s own sweet tooth is really the virus’ achielles heel.
Here’s what they mean. When HIV infects a new cell it needs sugar and nutrients from that newly infected cell to help fuel it’s rapid growth throughout the body. Makes sense right?
Well-- they believe they have found the switch to stop the feeding frenzy, and thus block the spread within the body. Super cool, nerd medicine stuff here.
According to the new releases:
This is believed to be the first time scientists have targeted the virus's ability to pilfer the cell's pantry to stop its growth. A related approach was attempted in the 1990s but the drugs used sometimes killed healthy cells and had serious side effects in HIV patients.
The Northwestern team's new approach is a gentler, non-toxic way to block HIV access to the cell's "pantry.”
Cool!