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Interferon increases the body's resistance to HIV infection
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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The mechanism of interferon's fight against HIV became known thanks to the joint work of Swiss and American scientists, MedicalXpress reports with reference to the journal PNAS. Professor Satish K. Pilai and his colleagues from the University of California in San Francisco conducted a study on patients simultaneously suffering from hepatitis C and HIV infection.
Interferon has long been known as a means of improving the condition of patients with HIV infection. The results of laboratory studies in previous years showed that in vitro (in a test tube) interferon directly suppresses HIV, but in the body the mechanism turned out to be completely different.
Pilai's group found that when interferon is administered to a patient, the production of two proteins that are elements of the immune system increases - APOBEC3 and tetherin, which are related to the so-called restriction factors.
APOBEC3 penetrates viral particles at the formation stage and disrupts their genetic material so that it is no longer able to reproduce.
Tetherin works differently: it attaches to the virus as it exits the cell and literally pulls it back. In this way, the protein prevents the virus from being transmitted to other cells.
However, HIV is able to counteract the action of both tetherin and APOBEC3 using its own proteins Vpu and Vif, respectively.
The researchers recruited patients enrolled in the Swiss HIV Cohort Study, which began in 1998. These patients were receiving interferon as a hepatitis drug and were not taking antiretroviral drugs to suppress HIV.
Scientists took samples from 20 patients before, during and after the injection of a dose of interferon. It turned out that the highest level of restriction factors is observed after the drug enters the bloodstream. Patients with increased levels of APOBEC3 and tetherin also had the lowest activity of the immunodeficiency virus.
Pilai calls on scientists to arm themselves with new knowledge as soon as possible, the practical application of which can quickly increase the level of restriction factors in patients' blood and increase the body's resistance to HIV infection.
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