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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

cellular model, cloned HIV env genes, HAART, highly active antiretroviral therapy

College

Physical and Mathematical Sciences

Department

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Abstract

Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART), a treatment that uses protease inhibitors and nucleoside analogs to block replication of HIV, has had a marked effect on decreasing the viral loads of HIV in infected individuals. However, studies have indicated that if a patient receiving HAART for long periods of time (2 to 3 years) is taken off treatment, HIV levels in the blood will increase drastically within several weeks (2). This problem indicates that reservoirs in the body harbor the virus and protect it from treatment until conditions allow the virus to replicate unchecked throughout the body. The Follicular Dendritic Cell (FDC) is one of three such reservoirs (1). FDCs reside in the germinal centers of secondary lymphoid tissue and function in the maintenance of specific immune responses. Studies have shown that mouse FDCs not only trap large quantities of HIV, but also maintain the trapped virus in an infectious state for at least 25 days in vitro and 9 months in vivo (3). Research by Smith-Franklin et al. has also shown that human FDCs maintain HIV in an infectious state in vitro and that HIV-specific antibodies (Abs) and antibody receptors on FDCs (FDC-FcgRs) are necessary in order to maintain this infectivity (4). However, much less is known about HIV trapped by human FDCs in vivo.

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