CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR INTERACTIONS IN HIV INFECTIONS: A REVIEW

Objective: To review the cellular and molecular interactions between HIV and the hostimmune system that lead to full-blown AIDS.Data Sources: Published reports on HIV/host interaction during a fifteen year periodbeginning from 1987.Study selection: Only those studies involving humans and non-human primates wereselected. The studies included original articles and state-of-the-art reviews covering in vivoand in vitro findings.Data extraction and synthesis: This article presents a critical review of the cellular andmolecular mechanisms of HIV infection and their relationship to the onset of AIDS.Conclusion: HIV has elaborated diverse and somewhat complicated mechanisms for thesubversion and evasion of the host immune defence strategies. These include escape throughmutation, prolonged latency of the infection, masking of the viral envelope proteins, downregulationof MHC-I and up-regulation of the Fas-ligand on infected cell surfaces. Thisreview enhances our understanding of HIV/AIDS disease and presents a basis on whichmanagement strategies could be developed