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The virus that causes AIDS infects one form of immune T-cell by rearranging its inner skeleton, allowing it access to the cell, scientists have discovered.

The finding helps explain how HIV maintains pockets of dormant virus in these so-called "resting" T-cells, even when the virus is under attack by antiretroviral drugs. It also points to potential new targets for drug development, experts say.

"Whenever you identify a necessary step - a step which is absolutely required for infection of naive T-cells -- of course then you have a new focus point, one that you can examine to see if there are options for new therapies. Certainly with HIV treatment, we need that," said study co-author Jon Marsh, a researcher in the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Regulation at the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health.

HIV is known to hide out in a number of cell types in the body, making a cure for AIDS elusive. "But if we are aiming to cure infection, we need to understand all of the ways in which latent infection can be established," Johnston said.

Johnston agreed it may be years, if ever, before this discovery leads to effective therapies. Right now, she said, "this is very much in the arena of just understanding how HIV does what it does."

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