A diagram of a HIV virion: The purple and green units are docking proteins in the lipid membrane. The dark blue layer is the protective capsid, while the yellow units are the genetic material of the virus in the form of RNA. The red spots denote the enzyme reverse transcriptase.
Credit: U.S. National Institutes of Health
The next stage will be to use Pk for tests to predict people's risk of contracting HIV, and also to create new drugs to help protect against infection. In fact, the researchers are already looking at Pk-like molecules that could one day be used to treat the condition.
"All of a sudden we have a completely new target, and this could lead to a new toolbox [for treating HIV]," said Olsson.
Eva Maria Fenyö, a virologist from the University of Lund who was not involved in the study, believes it takes an important step forward. "[The study] very convincingly shows that Pk plays a role in susceptibility to HIV infection", she said.
