Int Conf AIDS 1994 Aug 7-12; 10:51 (abstract no. PS16) Haase AT; Department of Microbiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455.
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections progress through stages of acute infection, persistent infection and disease. The basic issues in pathogenesis I will address are the mechanisms of persistence and immune depletion. Using powerful single cell technologies such as in situ PCR, it is now possible to show that there are large numbers of CD4+ lymphocytes and macrophages in the lymphoid tissues that harbor the HIV provirus in a silent state that allows the infected cell to go undetected by immune surveillance. These cells constitute a reservoir from which infection is perpetuated as viral gene expression is activated. I will present evidence adduced from new experimental approaches to characterizing viral gene expression in vivo that activation of viral gene expression is an ongoing process that results in productively infected cells that spread infection and contribute directly or indirectly to the slow depletion of CD4+ lymphocytes. I will conclude with a discussion of the implications of these studies for the timing and requisite efficacy of therapeutic interventions to prevent, delay or moderate the impact of infection on the immune system.
Keywords: AEGIS, HIV, HIV Infections, CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes, Lymphoid Tissue, Proviruses, Macrophages, Receptors, HIV, HIV Seropositivity, Polymerase Chain Reaction, HIV Envelope Protein gp120, Human, ICA10 940807
PS16
