Just saw this and thought I should share it:

Chinese and US researchers say they’ve made a major breakthrough in the fight against AIDS, by decoding one of the proteins that allows the HIV virus to invade the immune system.

Reporting in the journal Science, the team said it had decoded the high-resolution structure of a human protein called "CCR5". The HIV virus binds to the protein, before fusing to the cell membrane and eventually digging into the cell itself. Scientists say the breakthrough will make a significant contribution towards the development of the next generation of anti-HIV drugs.

Only a handful of CCR5-inhibiting compounds have been developed so far, and no one knows exactly how they work. It comes after another team of researchers announced on Thursday that they’d successfully cleared a virus similar to HIV from infected monkeys, raising hopes that scientists could be moving closer to finding an eventual cure for AIDS.


english.cntv.cn/program/newsupdate/20130915/103217.shtml