Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1988. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
THE IMMUNE DEFICIENCY OF AIDS
AIDS, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, and other Manifestations of HIV Infection. Wormser GP et al, eds. Park Ridge, NJ, Noyes Publications, p. 304-30, 1987.. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE ICDB/88647002 Siegal FP; Dept. of Medicine, Long Island Jewish Medical Center, New Hyde; Park, NY
Abstract:
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection leads to profound alterations within the immune system at many levels. Most of the clinical syndromes associated with HIV are known to be opportunistic, because of their occurrence in patients with primary and secondary immune deficiencies before the advent of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Immunologic abnormalities seen in AIDS are discussed including pathogenesis of and determinants of clinical illness in HIV infection, characteristics of normal cellular immunity, defects of immunity in AIDS, special features of children with congenital AIDS and AIDS-related complex (ARC), effects of lymphocyte infusion or marrow transplant, immunogenetics and AIDS, thymic function in AIDS, functions of large granular lymphocytes, myeloid cells, and monocyte-macrophages in AIDS, and host defense against HIV. Because it is one of the most intensively studied microbial agents of humans, HIV is now recognized as having evolved several molecular structures through which it interacts with and probably damages the immune system. One site mimics, functionally at least, Ia (class II) antigens of the major histocompatibility complex, which bind to the CD-4 molecule. Another may imitate a lymphokine product of T cells that normally activates B cells and stimulates the growth of neural tissue. Yet another resembles the thymic hormone thymosin alpha-1 sufficiently that antihormone antibodies can neutralize virus infectivity. Possibly a fourth structure cross-reacts with a thymic epithelial component. An understanding of the immune defects of AIDS and its precursor clinical states not only permits better comprehension of the entire syndrome, but has shed considerable light on host defense mechanisms in humans. If knowledge of cellular immunity can be translated into a means of immune reconstitution, presumably via combinations of antiviral agents and biological response modifier or hematopoietic cell transplantation, still more will be learned. (109 Refs)
Keywords: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/*IMMUNOLOGY/THERAPY Antibody Formation AIDS-Related Complex/IMMUNOLOGY Bone Marrow/IMMUNOLOGY/TRANSPLANTATION Bone Marrow Transplantation Histocompatibility Antigens Class II/IMMUNOLOGY Human HIV/*IMMUNOLOGY Immunity, Cellular Opportunistic Infections/IMMUNOLOGY T-Lymphocytes/TRANSPLANTATION T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer/IMMUNOLOGY T-Lymphocytes, Suppressor-Effector/IMMUNOLOGY MONOGRAPH REVIEW REVIEW, TUTORIAL
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Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1988. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
