Better Together?

These strange blobs are clusters of immune T cells infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) – the virus that causes AIDS. The infected cells fuse together, forming large structures known as syncitia. Scientists have discovered that one of the genes in HIV encodes a protein called Env, which encourages the fusion of infected cells. But although this cellular get-together certainly happens with cells grown in plastic dishes in the lab, it’s not clear whether it happens in infected patients. This idea was controversial for a long time, and although there was some evidence that certain types of HIV-infected cells could club together inside the body, T cells couldn’t. The latest research suggests that syncitia do form when T cells are infected with HIV inside a person. But rather than being round blobs like these, they take on a more elongated, spidery shape, which helps to spread the infection to nearby tissues.

Written by Kat Arney

Kat Arney

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Dr Kat Arney is an award-winning science writer, broadcaster and public speaker, and is the founder and Creative Director of First Create The Media.

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• Adapted from an image by Thomas Murooka and Thorsten Mempel
• Virus & Immunity Unit, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
• Image originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)
• Published in PLOS Pathogens, February 2017