Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America. peter.katsikis@drexelmed
PLoS Pathog. 2011 Aug;7(8):e1002055. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1002055. Epub 2011 Aug 11.
Cytokines play a central role in the pathogenesis of many diseases, including HIV infection. However, the role of the cytokine network in early HIV infection is only now starting to be elucidated. A number of studies conducted in recent years have indicated that cytokines of the acute/early stages of HIV and SIV infection can impact viral set-point months later, and this is of critical importance since viral set-point during chronic HIV infection affects virus transmission and disease progression. This raises the question whether modulating the cytokine environment during acute/early HIV infection can be a target for novel approaches to develop a vaccine and therapeutics. In this review we focus on the kinetics and function of cytokines during acute HIV and SIV infection and how these may impact viral set-point. We also discuss unresolved questions that are essential for our understanding of the role of acute infection cytokines in HIV infection and that, if answered, may suggest novel therapeutic and vaccine strategies to control the worldwide HIV pandemic.
细胞因子在许多疾病的发病机制中发挥着核心作用，包括 HIV 感染。然而，细胞因子网络在 HIV 早期感染中的作用直到现在才开始被阐明。近年来的一些研究表明，HIV 和 SIV 感染急性期/早期的细胞因子可以影响数月后的病毒定殖水平，这一点至关重要，因为慢性 HIV 感染期间的病毒定殖水平会影响病毒传播和疾病进展。这就提出了一个问题，即在 HIV 急性/早期感染期间调节细胞因子环境是否可以成为开发疫苗和治疗方法的新目标。在这篇综述中，我们重点关注 HIV 和 SIV 感染急性期细胞因子的动力学和功能，以及它们如何影响病毒定殖水平。我们还讨论了尚未解决的问题，这些问题对于我们理解急性感染细胞因子在 HIV 感染中的作用至关重要，如果得到解答，可能会提出控制全球 HIV 大流行的新的治疗和疫苗策略。
