ISSN 2756-3375
African Journal of Immunology Research ISSN 9431-5833 Vol. 4 (7), pp. 268-276, July, 2017. © International Scholars Journals
Review
Immune response and possible causes of CD4+T-cell depletion in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 infection
O. O. Oguntibeju1*, W. M. J. van den Heever2 and F. E. Van Schalkwyk3
1Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences, Cape Peninsula University of
Technology, Bellville Campus, South Africa.
2School of Health Technology, South Africa.
3School of Hospitality and Tourism, Central University of Technology, Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.
*Corresponding author. [email protected]. Tel.: +27 21 953 8495. Fax: +27 21 959 6770.
Accepted 03 March, 2017
Abstract
This review work examines immune response and possible causes of depletion of CD4+ T-cells in patients with human immunodeficiency (HIV)-1 infection. HIV has been accepted as a global problem however, the developing countries are the most affected by the epidemic. Countries in the sub-Saharan Africa seem to bear the bulk of the HIV burden among the developing countries with about 24.7 million (almost 63%) of all people living with HIV globally in 2006 live in sub-Saharan Africa. The major factor obstructing progress towards an effective vaccine to prevent or modulate HIV-1 infection is that the critical features needed for a protective immune response are not fully understood. Although, it has been found that potent neutralizing antibodies can protect against experimentally acquired HIV infection in animal models, they are scarcely generated in vivo in the infected person and neutralization resistant viral variants have been noticed to develop rapidly in chronic infection. It is generally believed that cellular immune responses, particularly specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL), are important in the host response to HIV-1 infection. Scientists have observed that CTL develop very early in acute HIV-1 infection, coincident with a rapid fall in plasma vireamia, whereas in chronic infection their levels are inversely related to viral load. However, the powerful HIV-specific CTL response ultimately fails to control HIV replication. This could be due to the emergence of viral variants that escape CTL recognition or impairment of CTL function.
Key words: Immune system, immune suppression, virus-mediated cell destruction, chronic infection.