The Role of Cytomegalovirus as a Cofactor in the Development of ARC-AIDS
Abstract
Numerous studies have shown that nearly all AIDS patients are CMV-infected, that CMV latency often shifts to active infection, with consequent severe disease in HIV-immunosuppressed people, and active CMV infection itself is immunosuppressive. These phenomena make it difficult to determine whether there is a triggering cofactor role in dual CMV HIV infection, i.e., whether the synergistic phenomena well documented in double infected cells in vitro have any relevance to the clinical course of doubly infected people. Individual brain cells in AIDS patients are coinfected with CMV and HIV, which suggests that CMV could modify the pathogenesis of HIV infection, at least in the brain. CMV genomes can be found in both polymorphonuclear and mononuclear human leukocytes, including OKT4 cells. Therefore, dually infected OKT-4 cells are probably present in many HIV-infected subjects and the two viruses might interact in vivo in a manner similar to that observed in vitro.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 06, 1991
- Accession Number
- ADA246024
Entities
People
- Kendall O. Smith
Organizations
- University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio