| HIV can only bond with a special receptor on white | | | | immune system can get back to normal. Since CD4 |
| blood cells called the CD4 receptor. These receptors | | | | receptors serve no purpose in the body and some |
| are special proteins that exist on the outside of white | | | | people don't even have them, we can create |
| blood cells. | | | | complimentary molecules to bond with and essentially |
| In the lab we can make CD4 receptors with ease | | | | cap the CD4 receptors. The last time I checked |
| and then inject them into the patient's blood stream | | | | there were close to 200 commercially available |
| without causing any harm. These free floating | | | | injectable medicines that served this purpose. The |
| receptors then attach to HIV floating in the blood | | | | down side is that new white blood cells would not be |
| and cause it to become harmless. We can even | | | | protected, so regular injections would be necessary |
| attach the CD4 receptors in large numbers to a | | | | and the CD4 receptor problem would not be |
| bigger molecule, so they can be filtered out of the | | | | permanently solved. However, we can work |
| blood by the kidneys. This dramatically reduces the | | | | backwards chemically to identify the segment of |
| amount of HIV in the blood by tricking it into bonding | | | | DNA that results in a person having CD4 receptors |
| with a significantly larger number of either free | | | | and replace that segment of DNA using genetic |
| floating or CD4 receptors bonded with larger | | | | medicines to permanently eliminate the problem. Or |
| harmless molecules. Regular treatments could | | | | we can trick the ribosomes into creating proteins |
| completely eliminate the risk of HIV causing any | | | | that will cap the CD4 receptors throughout an |
| significant damage to the immune system and | | | | individual's lifetime by adding a segment with |
| developing into AIDS. | | | | instructions to make the new protein. |
| The second line of defense is to protect all the | | | | So here is a cure to eliminate HIV and provide |
| healthy white bloods cells in the patient, so the | | | | significant immunity to acquiring AIDS. |