Can Tick Saliva Block HIV?

A new study from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, may have found the key to preventing HIV from even entering the bloodstream.

The study results, which were published in the February issue of Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, show that the protein present in deer tick saliva, known as Salp15, blocks T cells from activating. The protein is a natural mechanism in tick saliva that allows ticks to evade the immune system of a host in order to feed for up to seven days. The same mechanism also prevents T cells from reacting to the HIV virus, preventing the virus' attachment to a T cell by up to 70%.

The tick saliva protein may provide another breakthrough. Asthma is also an auto-immune response, constricting the lung passages as a reaction to allergens in the air passageways. A tick saliva drug derivative could be used to help offset the reaction to help lessen the auto-immune response common in asthma sufferers.