午夜福利1000集合

HIV preferentially infects the very immune cells that are tuned to tackle it. This may mean that 鈥渄rug holidays鈥濃�攚here patients stop treatment for a few months to let the virus recover, which boosts their immunity鈥攃ould actually damage their immune response.

Researchers know that HIV targets the bits of the immune system responsible for destroying virus-infected cells. The response is stimulated by so-called CD4+ helper T cells. These come in different strains, each specific to a particular pathogen.

Now a team led by Daniel Douek at the US National Institutes of 午夜福利1000集合 has shown that HIV targets the very CD4+ cells designed to tackle the virus. The team collected CD4+ cells from HIV-infected men and looked for evidence that the cells had been infected in the past. Up to five times as many HIV-specific cells had been infected as other types.

This may be bad news for patients on drug holidays. Douek took patients off their treatment for about three weeks and found that the virus rebounded most strongly in HIV-specific CD4+ cells鈥攖he very cells sent to destroy the infection.