HIV Delivers 'Double Whammy' to Brain

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Paul Thompson, a professor of neurology at the University of California at Los Angeles, explained the findings this way: "As a brain cell is born, there are various checkpoints and phases of development that the cell has to go through. These researchers found the exact checkpoint where the birth of new brain cells is stopped. Now that they've identified the type of interference, it is a lot easier to focus on overcoming it."

The new research is in mice, and many medical discoveries don't translate from rodents to humans. But Lipton said he expect humans to be similar to mice when it comes to this particular kind of research.

According to Lipton, the next step is to figure out a way to develop a drug with a "double bang" that would stop HIV from attacking both existing brain cells and stem cells that could become brain cells. Scientists are already working on drugs that target an enzyme that's involved in that process, he noted.

More information

Learn more about HIV from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.