Cell biology and genetics professor Jonathan Dinman and his research team discovered a human gene phenomenon that could be the key to new HIV and AIDS treatments. 

Researchers at this university have discovered a phenomenon in human genes that changes instructions for the structure of the mRNA protein sequence, which might serve as the key to new treatments for HIV and AIDS, according to a study published July 9.

The research, which was conducted in the lab of cell biology and genetics professor Jonathan Dinman, focuses on programmed ribosomal frameshifting, a natural occurrence in which some genes with an alternate set of coded instructions can alter the proteins within those genes. By rewriting those instructions, the way that the proteins function and survive can be radically changed.

Dinman said he began research in the field about two decades ago, when he was a professor at Rutgers University. He said that as computational power increased over the years, so did the amount of data researchers could gather about the phenomenon. Dinman said it took years of research to formulate the idea that this occurrence could be used to alter the way cells behave.

“It was really a light bulb going off that interactions between microRNA and messenger RNA … might change the RNA structures through frameshifting,” Dinman said. “I took this message back to [lab alumnus Ashton Trey Belew] and he wrote a little program to … line up microRNAs to affect the frameshift signal, and the computer spat out a bunch of candidates … and two of them actually worked.”

Programmed ribosomal frameshifting was first discovered in 1985 through researching viruses. This most recent development, however, proves it can be used to develop therapeutic genes that work to repair other cells. The knowledge that frameshifting can change cell behavior and protein structure in beneficial ways led the lab’s graduate students to that conclusion.

“The idea was to see what the end result is. … To say that we identified something, that’s good — this is real and functional, but we have to explain what is the importance of this and what are the effects of this,” said Vivek Advani, a doctoral candidate in cellular and molecular biology who conducted experiments for this project. “These experiments were to demonstrate the importance of what [frameshifting] does.”

The research team at Dinman’s lab focused on frameshifting as it occurs within the immune system’s genes, specifically those found within white blood cells. Dinman said the cells in the immune system are encoded with messages that tell the body how to react to invasive threats. However, in the case of HIV and other immune malfunctions, such as allergies, immune cells end up causing harm instead.

Dinman said he believes ribosomal frameshifting is the key to treating these symptoms. If the messages sent by the proteins of these immune cells can be changed, then the damage hopefully could be prevented, he said.

Arturas Meskauskas, a research professor at the lab, said this could change how people study and view disease overall.