Abstract

Viruses that induce chronic infections can evade immune responses. HIV is a prototype of this class of pathogen. Not only does it mutate rapidly and make its surface components difficult to access by neutralizing antibodies, but it also creates cellular hideouts, establishes proviral latency, removes cell-surface receptors and destroys immune effectors to escape eradication. A better understanding of these strategies might lead to new approaches in the fight against AIDS.

Author affiliations

1. Departments of Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology, Rosalind Russell Medical Research Center, University of California, San Francisco, California 94143-0703, USA.
   Email: matija@itsa.ucsf.edu
2. Department of Genetics and Microbiology, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland.
   Email: didier.trono@medecine.unige.ch