Researchers Discover Protein In Breast Milk That Can Disable HIV

In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Genevieve Fouda of Duke University and colleagues describe the isolation of a “single protein called tenascin-C” in human breast milk that is believed to “disabl[e] HIV by locking onto a protein on the virus’s surface, and … is as effective at doing so as antibodies generated by the immune system for that specific purpose,” The Economist reports. “Whether tenascin-C, or something derived from it, can be deployed against HIV by doctors, rather than just by nature, remains to be seen,” the magazine notes (10/26).

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