Scientists Discover How HIV Virus Destroys T-Cells
Scientists have long known that HIV sets up little biological factories inside the the body’s protective CD-4 T cells they infect, producing millions of copies that eventually lead to a massive destruction of the immune system. Until now, investigators have not understood why the virus becomes so aggressive.
It turns out HIV, which infects only a small number of T cells at the start, destroys approximately 95 percent of immune cells through a process known as the bystander effect.
Warner Greene, head of virology and immunology at the Gladstone Institutes in California, says bystander cells that are in the neighborhood of HIV-infected cells succumb to a fiery death.
“Most CD4-T cells during HIV infection die not because of the toxic effect of the virus, but because of an immune response against the virus. So, CD4 cell depletion is more of a suicide than a murder,” said Greene.
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