Washington: A recent study found that HIV-infected cells release vesicles that contain a viral protein called Nef, further damaging cholesterol metabolism and triggering inflammation in uninfected bystander cells.

HIV infects only a limited repertoire of cells expressing HIV receptors. But HIV infection is also associated with conditions involving the dysfunction of cells that cannot be infected by HIV, such as hardening of the arteries, dementia, kidney impairment, and certain heart problems.

These HIV-associated conditions persist even after the successful application of antiretroviral therapy when no virus is found in the blood. Many of these conditions involve impairments in cholesterol metabolism. In the new study published in the journal of PLOS Pathogens, researchers examined the mechanisms that may contribute to HIV-associated metabolic conditions.

The results showed that the HIV protein Nef is released from infected cells in vesicles that are then rapidly taken up by uninfected bystander white blood cells, impairing cholesterol metabolism in these cells.

This impairment caused the formation of excessive lipid rafts discrete lipid domains present in the external leaflet of the plasma membrane and the re-localisation of inflammatory receptors into rafts, triggering inflammation. The findings demonstrate how a single viral molecule released from infected cells into circulation may contribute to a range of pathogenic responses.

“Our study points to a common mechanism of various co-morbidities of HIV infection. This opens a possibility to target this mechanism using drugs affecting cholesterol metabolism to treat several comorbidities in people living with HIV,” said one of the researchers of the study, Dmitri Sviridov.

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GETTING your ears pierced is a pretty low-key procedure and something many little girls beg for.

But sometimes, piercings can go wrong – particularly if they become infected.
Take Jennifer, for example.

She got her ears pierced 11 years ago after which painful, heavy bumps started to grow.

Jennifer, 29, from Philadelphia, USA, went to see Dr Pimple Popper, complaining: “They are incredibly painful and incredibly heavy.

“They cause headaches. I’m worried they are going to get bigger…I worry about being ridiculed and mocked.”
The cosplayer went to see Dr Sandra Lee (AKA Pimple Popper) after other doctors told her that they couldn’t help.

Dr Lee diagnosed Jennifer with extreme keloids and warned that not only might her ears not look “normal” after surgery, but the scars might just grow back.

Surgery wasn’t a straight forward process; she had to remove more ear tissue that she originally planned to and had to use a skin graft to reshape Jennifer’s left ear.

“They’re probably the biggest keloids I’ve ever seen,” said Dr Lee.

“I had to take off more of the ear than expected.

“After removal, the four keloids weighed nearly 14 ounces (28g).
Again, Amber’s keloids started growing two weeks after getting her ears pierced.

They soon grew to the size of grapes and Amber was forced to wear a headband to cover them up.

Fortunately, Dr Lee managed to snip off her scars with few complications.

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