How do some monkeys resist SIV infection?

Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine have identified a way Sooty mangabeys, an African monkey, resist SIV (a relative of HIV) infection.  According a a recently published article in Nature Medicine, the monkeys close the gates that SIV and HIV use to get into a cell.  “This protection from infection comes from reducing the levels on the cell surface of a molecule that SIV uses to enter the cell,” said the article’s first author, Mirko Paiardini, of the Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory.  The hope is that the findings will lead to ways to help  HIV-infected individuals cope better with the infection. GRA Eminent Scholar Guido Silvestri is senior author of the study.  Read more>