Paul Rácz Knihy

Animal models have proven of great importance in clarifying the immunopathogenesis of AIDS. This reviews provides a description of studies in a diversity of animal models that elucidate the immune containment of HIV infections.

Recent knowledge demonstrates that lymphocytes are not the only cells important for the reaction of an organism to pathogens, but that accessory (non-lymphoid) cells also play a role in this process. This publication provides an overview of present knowledge of antigen-presenting cells in the normal immune response as well as in immune pathology, with a focus on immune deficiencies caused by retroviral infections. The contributors demonstrate that the role of non-lymphoid cells is not merely confined to the effector phase of the immune response, but that macrophages and the related family of dendritic cells are also involved in the induction and regulation of lymphocyte proliferation and differentiation. Further papers elucidate the vital supportive functions of the various stromal cells in the immune response.

Cytotoxic T lymphocytes play a central role in containing the spread of the AIDS virus (HIV) as well as other retroviruses. This publication provides a broad overview of our current understanding of this immune response in the HIV-infected patient. With contributions from major laboratories throughout the world, the effector T lymphocyte response is described in virus-infected humans and also in non-human primates infected with monkey AIDS viruses. The precise molecular events which govern cytotoxic T cell recognition of HIV, the role of these cells in protecting against the progression of AIDS and the contributions of cytotoxic T lymphocytes to clinical manifestations of disease are thoroughly discussed. The functional characterization of these cells as well as their definition in tissues are also described.

HIV / AIDS; Medical microbiology & virology; Immunology