Coral Reef Protein Helps Prevent HIV

Researchers say that they have discovered a new class of protein that potentially prevents the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) from entering T cells, the natural host of the virus.  However, there is one setback. The protein has only been found in a rare species of feathery sea coral.

Researchers from the National Cancer of Institute (NCI) presented details about this discovery on Tuesday at the Experimental Biology 2014 meeting in San Diego.

According to the NCI research team, they discovered the protein class while screening thousands of natural product extracts in one of the institute's many biological repositories.

The proteins, belonging to a class called cnidarins, were found in feathery coral reef samples naturally found in small colonies off the north coast of Australia.

After isolating the proteins, the team tested their HIV preventative nature in a controlled lab environment. According to the researchers, the proteins proved "surprisingly potent," even blocking HIV infection at concentration as low as a billionth of a gram.

the human immunodeficiency virus first affects a human body after infecting a body's T-cells, which are normally the infection fighters of a body's immune system. However, once infected, a person's immune system is compromised, making them highly vulnerable to other infections and AIDS.

All of this can be prevented if the T-cells are protected from infection in the first place, and the researchers say that cnidarins do just that - binding with the virus and making it incapable of fusing with the membrane of human immune system cells.

As things stand, the feathery Australian coral is the only natural source of these proteins, but the researchers are currently looking into ways to recreate these proteins in the lab.

"You can't strip the Earth of this coral trying to harvest this protein," senior investigator Dr. Barry O'Keefe explained at the presentation, saying that the efforts to replicate the protein are a crucial step in making cnidarin-based HIV preventative options widely available to the public.

The details of the discovery were revealed at the Experimental Biology 2014 meeting in San Diego on April 29.

As these findings have yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal, it is suggested that they be viewed as preliminary findings until the time of official publication.