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A substance scientists created using information taken from a monkey gene "dramatically protected" human cells from the AIDS virus. The researchers believe the substance, which they call retrocyclin, was once produced naturally in human cells but was lost to humans because of an ancient mutation.

Alexander Cole, a scientist at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical School, said he and other researchers were led to the mutated human gene for an HIV-inhibiting compound by a natural antibiotic found in rhesus monkeys' bone marrow. Such naturally occurring germ fighters, known as defensins, are believed to have evolved tens of millions of years ago, Cole said. Although humans have a variety of defensins, the fact that HIV is almost always fatal suggests none exists for that virus.

It is not known whether the monkey defensin is the reason monkeys can be infected with AIDS-like viruses without becoming ill.

While Cole emphasized that scientists are "a long way from putting these things into humans," he said animal testing should get underway "in the near future." He added, "I truly believe this molecule has a lot of promise."

Editor's Note: from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution