Glycome 'fingerprints' provide definitive clues to HIV origins

It is well known that HIV-1 deceives the host immune system and usurps host cell machinery to replicate, but it is not known how this viral particle is released from the cell. A recent glycan profiling technique revealed that the glycome signatures of HIV-1 and host cell microvesicles are almost identical, providing important support for the 'exosome' hypothesis of viral release.