Investigators in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine have clearly demonstrated that HIV infects and reproduces in macrophages, large white blood cells found in the liver, brain and connective tissues of the body. This discovery has significant implications for HIV cure research. Macrophages ingest foreign material, including infected CD4 T cells. Past studies concluded macrophages became infected upon ingestion of compromised CD4 T cells. By studying the virus in novel small animal models that have no T cells (the cells that easily support HIV infection), researchers found HIV infected macrophages, proving macrophage-tropic strains of HIV exist and can autonomously replicate in these important cells. These findings were published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation on Monday, March 7.
↧