HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is one of the fastest evolving entities known. That’s why no one has yet been able to come up with a vaccine: The virus mutates so rapidly that what works today in one person might not work tomorrow or in others. A study published in the journal Nature confirms that dizzying pace of evolution on a global scale.
“It’s very clear there’s a battle going on between humans and this virus, and the virus is evolving to become unrecognised by the immune system,” said Dr Bruce Walker, director of the Ragon Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. “It does make clear what a huge challenge making a vaccine is”.
HIV evolves to escape the immune system, much in the same way that bacteria mutate under pressure by antibiotics, Walker said.
Researchers looked at HIV genetic sequences in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Botswana, Australia, Canada and Japan to see how they evolved in response to a key set of molecules in the human immune system called human leukocyte antigens.
The study published online found mutations occurred not just in individuals but also on a population level.
That is, if a particular genetic immune sequence was common in a population, the HIV mutation that evolved to escape it became the most common strain of HIV even in those without that particular human leukocyte antigen gene.
“What this study does is give an explanation for why there are different HIV strains in different parts of the world,” Walker said. “The genetic makeup of people in different regions is influencing the virus in specific ways.”
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A new way to fight AIDS.
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