HIV and the Immune System
As the hope of halting HIV replication has become a reality in the short term for at least some persons living with HIV infection, focus has turned to whether the immune system can in fact be reconstituted after HIV has done its damage. HIV vaccine research has also been a hot topic this year, with the U.S. government's efforts to revive what has been a disappointing venture to date. To address these timely topics, this issue of CRIA Update is devoted to HIV and the immune system.
The human immune response to invasion by pathogens, such as bacteria or viruses, is an extremely elegant and complicated process which is not fully understood even by immunologists. In order to understand issues like immune reconstitution (see page 3) and vaccination (see page 6), a basic understanding of immune function is helpful. To bring everyone up to speed, Rich Lynn -- with the artistic help of Brian Schuman -- has skillfully distilled the key elements of the immune response in an overview of the immune system which follows.
