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On high alert
HIV keeps the immune system in a hyperactive state,
gradually leading to its ruin, reports Emma Marris.
T
he last time you had a cold, you prob- proteins, known as cytokines and chemokines,
ably sniffled, coughed and stayed at and a host of other proteins.
home in bed for a couple of days. This ready and roused state is short lived in
All the while, your immune system the case of most viruses; however, HIV triggers
fought a quick battle against the cause of the chronic immune activation. “Practically every
cold: a virus. It was a battle with a foregone arm of the immune system that has been inves-
conclusion, as many of them tend to be. In tigated has been shown to be in a hyperactive
most cases, the immune system is triumphant, state,” says Jason Brenchley, an investigator at
and mops the floor with the virus within a the US National Institutes of Health.
couple of weeks. As immune cells are activated, they become
J. Mold, D. Favre, D. C. Douek, J. M. Brenchly and J. M. McCune
HIV is no ordinary virus, however. After targets for HIV, so an active immune system
a quick skirmish with the immune system paradoxically amounts to a higher viral load. A key element in this story is pace. The
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