According to a team led by an Indian-origin researcher, a protein naturally found in human blood cells that contains “selenium” can significantly slow down the multiplication of the AIDS virus.

Selenium is a micronutrient that the body needs to maintain normal metabolism. Unlike other nutrients, which bind to certain proteins and modulate the protein's activity, selenium gets incorporated into proteins in the form of an amino acid called selenocysteine.

K. Sandeep Prabhu, Penn State Assistant Professor of Immunology and Molecular Toxicology said that it was found that increasing the expression of proteins that contain selenium negatively affects the replication of HIV. The results also suggest a reduction in viral replication by at least 10-fold, he added.

Upon infecting a person, the virus quickly degrades selenoproteins so that it can replicate efficiently. It is unclear just how the virus is able to silence these proteins but Prabhu and his colleagues believe that stress inflicted on cells by the rapidly dividing virus, which produces a key protein known as Tat.

Tat is one of about 14 odd proteins produced by HIV during the first stage of infection. The job of these proteins is to trigger the expression of all the other genes that the virus needs to sustain itself. In addition, it also plays a key role in helping the virus replicate. One of the proteins that targets Tat is a selenoprotein known as TR1.