HIV Researchers Claim Major Breakthrough

U.S. and British scientists say they have made a major breakthrough in HIV research that could lead to better treatments for the disease.  The researchers, from Harvard University and the Imperial College London, have grown a crystal that reveals the structure of an enzyme called integrase, which is found in retroviruses like HIV. Scientists have been trying to work out a three-dimensional structure of integrase for 20 years, the researchers said in a statement.  HIV uses integrase to paste a copy of its genetic information into the person’s DNA, the researchers said.  The scientists said that their study shows that retroviral integrase has a much different structure than what was previously predicted.  But the availability of the structure will enable researchers to understand how existing drugs that inhibit integrase work, how they can be improved and how to stop HIV from developing resistance to them.  The study is published in the Feb. 1 edition of the journal Nature.