Scientists found the three proteins that work together to keep HIV hidden — and a way to expose it

HIV can hide inside a person's own cells for years, invisible to both the immune system and to medicines — which is why treatment controls the virus but rarely cures it. Researchers led by Guochun Jiang's team have now mapped how three human proteins — ENL, USP7 and BRD4 — cooperate to keep the virus silent and locked away, in a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Cell Reports. Knowing the exact machinery of hiding gives scientists a concrete target: break up the partnership, and the hidden virus could be exposed and eliminated. Because BRD4 also drives several cancers, the same discovery may inform cancer research too.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation