Researchers find secret to natural HIV immunity

A difference in five of the three billion nucleotides that make up the human genome allows some HIV patients to live for decades without developing AIDS.

Scientists have long been baffled by a small group of HIV patients known as “HIV controllers” who appear able to manage the disease without receiving anti-retroviral drugs and never develop AIDS. About one in 300 people infected with the virus exhibit the quality. Researchers conducted an exhaustive study that scanned the entire genome of 1,000 HIV controllers from around the world, and found a tiny difference in the DNA responsible for producing the immune protein HLA-B was the cause of their extraordinary ability. The difference in that section of DNA in HIV controllers was just five nucleotides compared to normal patients. Researchers are hoping the discovery could help develop a vaccine for HIV.