Linked Life Data

1619947

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/1619947

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
1
pubmed:dateCreated
1992-8-3
pubmed:abstractText
Genetic variation is the hallmark of infections with lentiviruses in general and the human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV-1, HIV-2) in particular. This article reviews both experimental evidence for the variability of the HIV genome during the course of an individual infection and mathematical models that outline the potential importance of antigenic variation as a major factor to drive disease progression. The essential idea is that the virus evades immune pressure by the continuous production of new mutants resistant to current immunological attack. This results in the accumulation of antigenic diversity during the asymptomatic period. The existence of an antigenic diversity threshold is derived from the asymmetric interaction between the virus quasispecies and the CD4 cell population: CD4 cells mount immune responses some of which are directed against specific HIV variants, but each virus strain can induce depletion of all CD4 cells and therefore impair immune responses regardless of their specificity. Therefore, increasing HIV diversity enables the virus population to escape from control by the immune system. In this context the observed genetic variability is responsible for the fact that the virus establishes a persistent infection without being cleared by the immune response and induces immunodeficiency disease after a long and variable incubation period. Mathematical biology has revealed a novel mechanism for viral pathogenesis.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Mar
pubmed:issn
0022-5193
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:day
7
pubmed:volume
155
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
1-20
pubmed:dateRevised
2008-11-21
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1992
pubmed:articleTitle
Variability of HIV infections.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, U.K.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Review