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Researchers Determine Chemical Structure of HIV Capsid
adeelarshad82 writes "Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) have determined the precise chemical structure of the HIV 'capsid,' a protein shell that protects the virus's genetic material and is a key to its virulence. The experiment involved mapping an incredible 64 million atoms to simulate the HIV capsid, pictured here. Interestingly no current HIV drugs target the HIV capsid and researchers believe that understanding the structure of the HIV capsid may hold the key to the development of new and more effective antiretroviral drugs. What makes this whole experiment even more fascinating is the use of Blue Waters, a Cray XK7 supercomputer with 3,000 Nvidia Tesla K20X GPU accelerators."
That there are numerous repeating elements in the capsid. Seems like this would be a perfect target for antibody formation. But obviously, that hasn't worked out. Be interesting to know why.
(Armchair biology is wonderfully simple, isn't it?)
The capsid is not exposed to the blood and therefore subject to interaction with antibodies. It's the layer beneath the viral capsule, and it is the capsule that is the most external layer which is exposed to the blood. Drug design will be likely to try and interact with the capsid once it is inside the cell and before it releases its payload