Vector Targets HIV-Infected Cells for Destruction

Dr. Pin Wang of the University of Southern California has created a virus that tracks and hunts down HIV-infected cells.

What Wang was able to do was to develop a lentiviral vector that latches onto HIV-infected cells, effectively marking them as a target. Once marked, drugs can be used to target and destroy these HIV-infected cells.

Using the specificity of the

lentiviral vector, the advantage in this approach is to limit the drugs attack only against the targeted cells, in this case, the HIV-infected cells.

There is still work to be done. The lentiviral vector has been tested only in cell culture. The vector has been able to result in the destruction of about 35 percent of existing HIV cells.