A research team announced yesterday that it has identified about 270 human proteins that the AIDS virus apparently needs to infect a person, instantly providing researchers with dozens of new strategies for blocking or aborting HIV infection. The vast majority — more than 200 — were not previously known to play a role in the complicated choreography by which the virus attaches to a cell, enters it, gets copied and establishes permanent residence. The discovery was made with a technique called a ‘genome-wide scan,’ which is only a few years old. Current AIDS drugs work by interrupting one of four main steps in HIV’s life cycle. The new study suggests that there are many more to target. ‘This is likely destined to be one of the best papers on HIV for this coming decade,’ said Robert C. Gallo, co-discoverer of the AIDS virus, who was not involved in the study. ‘I think it is terrific.’ Anthony S. Fauci, an AIDS researcher and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the study ‘puts on the table many, many more processes that up to this point were unrecognized.’ He added quickly: ‘Now they have […]