
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) gradually attacks the immune system, which is our body's natural defense against illness. Individuals infected with HIV exhibit both severe immune deficiency and aberrant inflammation. This results in susceptibility to secondary infection as the disease progresses.
HIV-associated deficiencies in adaptive immune responses have been well described; however, the effects of HIV on innate immune responses are not fully understood. A new study in JCI Insight demonstrates that a high viral load associates with a dampened inflammatory response in innate immune cells from HIV-infected individuals.
Eileen Scully, Marcus Altfeld, and colleagues from the Ragon Institute and the Heinrich Pette Institute evaluated multiple samples taken from a cohort of patients prior to and after initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART).
Together, the results of this study identify viral load as a driver of innate immune dysfunction in HIV-infected individuals.
Source: Eurekalert
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