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New dimensions

THE lethal human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) may yet be vanquished. Two teams of researchers in the Netherlands and the us have simultaneously unveiled 3-dimensional structures for part of the enzyme that helps the virus infiltrate human dna.

The Dutch have also discovered a compound -- hiv integrase -- that can counteract the offending enzyme. The hiv virus needs to plant its genes inside a human chromosome before it starts breeding in the body. The integrase helps it cut through the barriers and make its entry. Humans have no similar enzyme, so it should be possible to design drugs which can disable the virus by blocking the integrase without harming the cells in any way, contend the scientists.

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