Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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United Press International - Monday, June 7, 2004
The finding debunks a longstanding "Trojan Horse" theory that dementia is caused by a small, early invasion force of latent, infected macrophages -- long-lived immune system cells that normally travel the body and fight infection by ingesting foreign matter.
nstead, researchers believe the body clears away HIV-infected macrophages in the early invasion, and a second, mass invasion causes dementia in the later stages of AIDS.
"We found that there is about a 15- to 20-fold increase in the number of total macrophages in the brain during HIV dementia," wrote lead researcher Jay Rappaport at Temple University.
The reason there are so many infected cells is infected macrophages activate resident macrophages by taking on their functional characteristics, Rappaport said.
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