WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 (Xinhuanet) -- US researchers said Wednesday they have identified a natural protein in monkeys that blocks infections by the HIV virus, a finding that may lead to new methods of AIDS prevention and therapy.

    Named TRIM5-alpha, the protein is found to be able to prevent the HIV virus from removing its protective shell and inserting itsgenetic material into the host cell's DNA to replicate.

    By blocking this step, the protein renders the virus unable to reach the genetic machinery in the host cell's nucleus, and the infection fails, said the researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts.

    Humans have a similar protein, although it is not as effective at stopping HIV as the monkey version, said the researchers, whose work will be published Thursday in the British science journal Nature.

    However, it might be possible to find ways to increase effectiveness of the human TRIM5-alpha protein or recruit the more potent monkey version as a therapy, they said.

    "Identification of this HIV-blocking factor opens new avenues for intervening in the early stage of HIV infection, before the virus can gain a toehold," commented Dr Anthony Fauci, director ofthe US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which supported the research.

    "Basic discoveries like this provide the scientific springboard to future improvements in therapies for HIV disease," Fauci said in a statement. Enditem