Question:

Do HIV antivirals affect all cells, or only those infected with HIV? Also, how does the virus kill the cell it infects?

Answer provided by:

Donna Sweet, M.D.
Professor of Internal Medicine
University of Kansas School of Medicine - Wichita

HIV mainly, but not exclusively, infects a type of cell of the immune system, known as CD4+ T-helper cells (so called because they 'help' activate other immune cells). Antivirals act at the level of the HIV (the virus itself). Consequently any cell with HIV in it is potentially affected by antiviral medication.

As the virus buds off the cell it has overtaken, it exits by bursting through the cell membrane, rupturing the cell. Like puncturing a water balloon, this destroys the cell's physical integrity, effectively killing the infected T-cell. As the released viruses infect nearby T-lymphocytes, they in turn are ruptured, in a widening circle of cell death.
Donna E. Sweet, MD

070129
ASKD070113

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