Appay Victor, Rowland-Jones Sarah L
MRC Human Immunology Unit, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK OX3 9DS.
Trends Immunol. 2002 Dec;23(12):580-5. doi: 10.1016/s1471-4906(02)02338-4.
The reasons for the failure of the immune system to control HIV-1 infection, and the resulting immunodeficiency, remain unclear. HIV-1 persists in its host despite vigorous immune responses, including a strong, and probably functional, HIV-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte response. Interestingly the immunological features of HIV-1-infected individuals show many similarities to those seen in elderly people without HIV infection. We propose that, through a process of continuous immune activation, HIV-1 infection leads to an acceleration of the adaptive immune system ageing process, resulting in premature exhaustion of immune resources, which participates in the onset of immunodeficiency. This hypothesis might shed new light on HIV-1 pathogenesis and could suggest the need to reconsider current immunotherapeutic strategies to fight the virus.
免疫系统无法控制HIV-1感染并导致免疫缺陷的原因仍不清楚。尽管有强烈的免疫反应，包括强大且可能具有功能的HIV特异性细胞毒性T淋巴细胞反应，HIV-1仍在其宿主中持续存在。有趣的是，HIV-1感染者的免疫学特征与未感染HIV的老年人有许多相似之处。我们提出，通过持续免疫激活的过程，HIV-1感染导致适应性免疫系统衰老过程加速，导致免疫资源过早耗尽，这参与了免疫缺陷的发生。这一假设可能为HIV-1发病机制提供新的线索，并可能表明需要重新考虑当前对抗该病毒的免疫治疗策略。
