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Nature Immunology 9, 225–227 (1 March 2008) | doi:10.1038/ni0308-225

HIV's gut feeling

Quentin Sattentau

Findings by several groups have shown that human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in man, and its relative simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) in experimentally infected monkeys, destroys most CD4+ T cells of gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT), leaving a damaged and compromised tissue in its wake. The potentially irreversible loss of immune and structural integrity at this site may then allow translocation of bacteria and their products, resulting in nonspecific systemic immune activation and lymphocyte activation–induced T cell death.