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Nature Medicine 6, 1094 - 1095 (2000)
doi:10.1038/80415

Containing HIV after infection

Bruce D. Walker1 & Eric S. Rosenberg1

  1. Harvard Medical School Partners AIDS Research Center 149 13th Street CNY 5212 Charlestown, MA 02129
    e-mail: bwalker@helix.mgh.harvard.edu

Investigation into the ability of anti-retroviral therapy and therapeutic immunization in primary simian immunodeficiency virus infection of macaques demonstrates the importance of anti-retroviral treatment in early infection. The findings also indicate that it may be possible to boost the virus-specific immune response through immunization (pages 1140–1146).

Many human viruses such as Epstein Barr virus and cytomegalovirus establish chronic infections that are contained but never eradicated by an effective immune response. This is not true for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which infects the CD4 T cells that are central to effective immune control.