TORONTO, APRIL 27 (PTI): Scientists studying the evolution of HIV in North America have found evidence that the virus is slowly adapting over time to its human hosts. “Much research has focused on how HIV adapts to antiviral drugs – we wanted to investigate how HIV adapts to us, its human hosts, over time,” said lead author Zabrina Brumme. “HIV adapts to the immune response in reproducible ways. In theory, this could be bad news for host immunity – and vaccines – if such mutations were to spread in the population,” said Brumme. “Just like transmitted drug resistance can compromise treatment success, transmitted immune escape mutations could erode our ability to naturally fight HIV,” said Brumme. “Overall, our results show that the virus is adapting very slowly in North America. In parts of the world harder hit by HIV though, rates of adaptation could be higher,” said Brumme. “We already have the tools to curb HIV in the form of treatment – and we continue to advance towards a vaccine and a cure. Together, we can stop HIV/AIDS before the virus subverts host immunity through population-level adaptation,” Brumme added.
