How cats could help to treat HIV

Cats are much more than just our four-legged companions; new research now explains how our furry friends could also aid the development of new drugs for HIV.

Researchers have deciphered the structure of a protein that causes drug resistance in FIV.

Scientists have now unraveled the 3-D structure of a specific protein in feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) that is also present in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Study authors Akram Alian and Dr. Meytal Galilee — who are from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa — believe that their findings could open the door to new drugs that could tackle drug-resistant HIV-1.

The researchers recently reported their findings in the journal PLOS Pathogens.

HIV is a virus that attacks the body's T cells, which are immune cells that help us to stave off infection and disease. HIV-1 is the most common strain of HIV, accounting for around 95 percent of all cases.

It is estimated that around 1.1 million people in the United States are living with HIV. In 2016, there were more than 39,000 new cases of the virus diagnosed in the country.

When HIV first emerged in the 1980s, there was significant fear and stigma surrounding the virus; scientists knew very little about HIV, and there were no treatments for it.

But now, it's a different story; a person with HIV can live a long, healthy life thanks to antiretroviral drugs.

These medications work by reducing levels of HIV in the blood, to the point where the virus can be undetectable. This means that the virus does not impact a person's health and it cannot be passed on to other individuals.

However, not all people with HIV who receive antiretroviral drugs will achieve undetectable blood levels of the virus, and some individuals with HIV may develop resistance to these medications.

With this in mind, scientists are looking to develop new drugs for HIV, and Alian and Dr. Galilee believe that cats may help to meet this need.