艾滋病治疗出现新的希望

A discovery about the way HIV attacks the immune system could pave the way for the development of new treatments.

一则新发现揭示了HIV病毒是如何攻击免疫系统的，为艾滋病治疗的发展铺平了道路。

Researchers have identified a new method in which the human immunodeficiency virus, which causes Aids, is able to prevent tetherin - a protein found naturally in human cells - from doing its job of blocking the invaders.

研究人员发现了艾滋病毒阻碍tetherin功能的新途径。tetherin是在人体细胞中发现的天然存在的蛋白，具有阻止外界病毒入侵的作用。

This highly-skilled study has been carried out by a team based in Montreal in Canada.

这项技术含量极高的研究是由一个在加拿大蒙特利尔的小组开展的。

The hope now is that this information will help scientists to target certain aspects of the virus and therefore develop new anti-HIV drugs.

眼下，人们希望，这些信息能够帮助科学家跟踪定位HIV病毒的某些方面的特性，进而发明新型抗HIV病毒的药物。

At the moment, there is no way of knowing how much of a difference this discovery will make to HIV therapy and any such developments could take decades.

目前，还不得而知这个新发现能够对艾滋病治疗起多大作用。而此类新的突破进展可能会花上几十年。

Almost 33 million people around the world are thought to be living with HIV and AIDS.

估计全球大约有3300万的HIV病毒携带者和艾滋病患者。