Commentary
New and novel intrinsic host repressive factors against HIV-1: PAF1 complex, HERC5 and others
National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases, George Mason University, Discovery Hall, Room 182, University Blvd. MS 1H8, 10900 Manassas, VA, USA
Retrovirology 2012, 9:19 doi:10.1186/1742-4690-9-19
Published: 9 March 2012First paragraph (this article has no abstract)
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), a retrovirus, is the etiological agent of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). AIDS is characterized by the failure of the immune system to protect against not only HIV but also common secondary viral and bacterial infections. Viruses such as HIV-1 are intracellular pathogens that require host cell machinery to maintain and generate new progeny. In that process, viruses disturb the normal components of intrinsic immune responses within infected cells. After HIV infection, the expression of various cellular restriction factors is notably up-regulated due to interferon activation, partly because genes for most of these restriction factors such as APOBEC3, TRIM, BST2/Tetherin, contain interferon-responsive promoters. Importantly, these molecules have been focused on for both elite controllers as well as long-term non-progressor AIDS patients.
