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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

vitro effects, follicular dendritic cells, proliferation, HIV, T cells

College

Life Sciences

Department

Microbiology and Molecular Biology

Abstract

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), the cause of AIDS, has eluded successful treatment since its discovery in the early 1980s. HIV is a retrovirus that infects and eventually destroys CD4+ T cells. In HIV infected individuals it is believed that during the longest phase of infection (latency) most viral production takes place in and around the germinal centers of secondary lymphoid tissues. Follicular dendritic cells (FDCs) are a unique component of the germinal center, and previous studies done in our laboratory have suggested that FDCs may augment viral replication and/or infection within the germinal center.

Included in

Microbiology Commons

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