U.S. team finds exact target of A.I.D.S. virus

Press, 4 February 1986, Page 4

U.S. team finds exact target of A.I.D.S. virus

NZPA-AFP New York' United States researchers have found hope for the development of an A.1.D.5.. vaccine by discovering how the deadly virus attacks the human body’s immunity defence system. In a study published by “Science” magazine, a medical team from the federal Centre for Disease Control (C.D.C.) reported evidence of how the A.I.D.S. (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) virus attacked the T-4 lymphocyte cell. Researchers already knew the virus tended to centre on the T-4, which governs the functions of

other blood cells. When the T-4 is infected, the immunity system breaks down, leaving the body unprotected. Dr Steven McDougall, of the C.D.C. at Atlanta, Georgia, said his team discovered that the GPIIO protein in the A.I.D.S. virus recognised a protein in the . T-4 cell and locked on to it. It might eventually be possible to stop the infection, he said, by developing a medicine affectiing either GPIIO or the T-4 protein. Other researchers remained cautious about the discovery, saying the A.I.D.S. virus attacked not

only the T-4 lymphocyte but also cells in the brain, nervous system and spinal fluid. Suicide preferred A Jellico, Tennessee, lawyer shot and killed himself the day he was to report to a federal prison to begin serving a 20-year sentence for tax fraud. George Ridenour shot himself in the head with a shotgun in his car on the highway north of Knoxville. Ridenour left two suicide notes atop a briefcase and under a box of shotgun shells in the front seat of his car. -r Knoxville.