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Innate immune system damage in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection. Implications for acquired immunity and
1Immunobiology Unit, MRC Centre for Inflammation, and Departments of Pathology and Chemistry, Edinburgh University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. s.e.m.howie@ed.ac.uk
American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine
|October 13, 2000
Abstract:
HIV infection affects the innate as well as the acquired immune systems. Critically, it changes the function of macrophages, which link the innate and acquired responses through their ability to present antigen to CD4(+) T lymphocytes. Patients with HIV infection have a reduced capacity to deal with subsequent pathogen exposure and many suffer from chronic pulmonary infections. We have produced complex synthetic peptides that mimic the function of viral gp120 and may represent prototypes of molecules that can prevent or ameliorate HIV-induced damage to the immune system.