Questions tagged [hiv]
The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a single-stranded RNA virus which reproduces in human CD4-positive cells, which are primarily T-helper lymphocytes and macrophages. HIV is the causative pathogen of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS).
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What percentage of HIV cases are caused by each of the following pathways?
Most studies of STI focuses on sexual intercourses. For example one study shows that approximately 70% of HIV is caused by male-male intercourse, and 20% is caused by heterosexual sexes.
However, I ...
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Exhaustion of 'memory' CD8 T cells
I've been reading literature on the exhaustion of cytotoxic CD8 T cells. In many of the papers I read, the authors aim to delineate molecular mechanisms that differ between exhausted and memory ...
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Why doesn't HIV give you cancer if retroviral gene therapy gives you cancer?
More than twenty patients have been treated in France and Britain,
with a high rate of immune system reconstitution observed. Similar
trials were restricted or halted in the US when leukemia was ...
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Does HIV erase the immune memory?
It’s said that HIV selectively infects and kills CD4+ T cells, which disables the adaptive immunity because both CD8+ T cells and B cells need CD4+ T cells to activate them. However, once activated, ...
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Is there any chance that the COVID-19 virus could become more deadly by it interacting with the HIV virus?
I would like to know if there is any chance that the COVID-19 virus, or one of its variants, could become more deadly by interacting with the HIV virus.
Let's say for example, that a person who has ...
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The effect of low pH on HIV virus
I've read a couple of articles that state that HIV is an enveloped Retrovirus that is so sensitive to the acidity of the environment and it cannot survive or will be inactivated at pH below 7. What ...
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If the IAVI G001 HIV vaccine proves itself, why would it work?
The IAVI G001 HIV vaccine trial looks promising.
If it works, will it work by preventing a single cell from being infected, or by allowing the body to attack infected cells?
What I'm trying to ...
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Looking for study/genome data for HIV in different organs
I am looking for a research study or data base that has HIV genome data available in fasta or similar format. Specifically I need genome data of HIV taken from different organs in the same subject. I ...
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Eradication of HIV
If the last person with AIDS dies, does that mean the disease/virus has been eradicated forever?
Since the disease can ever only be transmitted, shouldn't it be possible to completely remove it from ...
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For how long viruses survive in non-air moisture environments?
On the Internet there are plenty of information that viruses don't live long after they were exposed to air, after they starting to dry out.
But it's hard to find an information on how long viruses ...
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T-cell "exhaustion" in patients with Covid-19
Following up on my previously asked question, which asks how COVID infects T-cells in immune system.
Here's a study that shows that recovered covid patients have "exausted t-cells". To quote:
T ...
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Why can't we always create a vaccine against a virus when an ELISA test to detect it is possible?
Before precising my question, here are some facts that I presume to be true:
A vaccine works by injecting the antigens of a virus into the body to train the immune system to recognize the virus and ...
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Can Covid-19 (similarly to HIV) infect T-Cells?
I'm interested in better understanding this Nature publication, discussing the potential for Covid to infect t-cells.
After describing the results they conclude:
"Based on the results of pseudovirus ...
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How much of the genotype-phenotype map do we understand in HIV?
From what I understand, viruses have very small genomes relative to those of standard model organisms used in biological research. For example, according to Wikipedia, "the HIV genome contains nine ...
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Viral RNA to DNA
I have a question concerning reverse transcriptase.
Why is it that when the viral rna is converted to viral dna( as in the case for hiv), the virus develops resistance to medicine?
Under what ...
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What advantages could there be for using the unseen variant chosen by He Jiankui instead of the naturally occurring CCR5-∆ 32 mutation?
Jennifer Doudna mentioned in https://youtu.be/9Yblg9wDHZA?t=2566 on 2019-02-21 that He Jiankui introduced an unseen variant of the CCR5 gene when gene editing the twin humans Lulu and Nana. What ...
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Does the mutation CCR5-delta 32 increase the genetic info?
My understanding is that the mutation CCR5-delta 32 caused the CCR5 co-receptor to be of a different shape, resulting HIV virus to not be able to attach itself to it.
My question, this shape/mutation,...
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Which cells are prefered by the HIV virus to establish an infection?
We always read that HIV infects CD4 cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells. However, is it a common event for HIV to infect non-immune cells within a host? If not, why?
And also if not, why are ...
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Why doesn't HIV spread through vectors? [duplicate]
HIV spreads only through body fluids. If a mosquito bites an HIV infected individual and then an uninfected individual, will the virus spread to the new individual?
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Does reversion of resistant strains to wild-type only occur when no more drug pressure is exerted
We always read that wild-type reversion of a resistant strain occurs when no more drug pressure is exerted. Could resistance reversion also occur under drug pressure, but from a drug other than the ...
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What are the potential dangers (if any) facing the twin girls recently born in China with their CCR5 gene modified?
According to this Nature news article, a Chinese researcher claims to have made the world's first genome-edited baby using the popular CRISPR–Cas9 genome-editing tool. A gene called CCR5 was modified ...
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Can people with AIDS/HIV be vaccinated?
If there is no immune system,it seems like vaccines wouldn't do much since there is no adaptive immune system to develop antibodies and memory cells. But can people with AIDS/HIV still be vaccinated? ...
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How do opportunistic infections affect an immunocompromised or AIDS patient?
I mean, everyone knows that AIDS patients don't die of the HIV infection, rather the opportunistic infections. But if HIV only affects T lymphocytes, and destroys them, then that means only cell ...
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Do we know that PrEP actually prevents infection, rather than masking it?
Pre-exposure prophylactic treatment (PrEP) for HIV is commonly said to reduce infection rates by more than 75%.
Similar treatments for already-infected patient treatments do not cure HIV, but reduce ...
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CD4+ as Monocytes cell surface receptors
Today in class, our teacher was discussing about the pathogenecity of the HIV virus.
He said that the binding between HIV virus and macrophages is done by the interaction between the GP120 of the ...
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Why does HIV chooses the Macrophage cells to infect first?
Upon entering our body HIV directs the macrophage cells to manufacture more virus particles. It injects the Viral RNA into the Macrophages. With the help of the enzyme reverse transcriptase the Viral ...
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why hiv genome not attacked by lysosome in macrophage
HIV cells lifecycle in macrophages suggests the early phase with naked genome entering the macrophage along with reverse trancriptase enzyme. i am thinking that macrophages are abundant with lysosomes ...
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Are these statements about the effectiveness of condoms in preventing HIV transmission reconcilable? [closed]
Can the following statements be reconciled:
Condoms form an essentially impermeable barrier to HIV
Sexual activities other than penetration carry a very low risk of transmission
The consistent use of ...
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T lymphocytes and HIV-AIDS
in studying maturation of lymphocytes into two different types-T LYMPHOCYTES and B LYMPHOCYTES. it is mentioned that if a lymphocyte matures in thymus gland it becomes T LYMPHOCYTE and becomes B ...
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Why HIV need integrase enzyme to integrate their DNA into host cell?
In gene transfer by microinjection, the gene of interest is injected into the nucleus of host cell without using integrase enzyme. So why does HIV need that enzyme? Why they not just place their DNA ...
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How did scientists discover HIV?
Imagining that we're now in 1983 (when HIV was discovered), there were no modern machines at that time to sequence massive genome extracted from blood. There was a strange disease and no one know what ...
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Meaning of "U" in "Viral Protein U"
What does U mean in Viral protein U?
Viral protein U (Vpu) is a unique gene product of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 (HIV-1) with two well-described functions...
So does U in this case ...
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Is Berlin patient immune to HIV after bone marrow transplant? [closed]
Is the Berlin patient here : https://biology.stackexchange.com/a/39364 become immune to HIV after bone marrow transplant? Or in other words: Can he get HIV infection again?
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Can HIV be automatically cured by waiting until CD4 T cells count drop to 0?
As I know, HIV needs host cell, CD4 T cell to repicate itself, and at late stage of AIDS, count of this cell in patient will drop to 0, my question is, if we can provide a sterilised environment for ...
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How is TB harmful in HIV patients?
The mycobacterium of TB doesn't secrete any toxins. The cause of disease in the immunocompetent is the collateral damage due to the immune response against disseminated infection. But then, when HIV ...
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How much time does HIV live outside the body? [closed]
I'm wondering HIV viability outside the body of an infected person, for example in a knife that contains blood of an infected person, with N virus cells. (N could be for example, 1000).
Some virus ...
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Do HIV particles die without host cells?
When a person is on antiretroviral therapy (ART) which blocks HIV particles from infecting cells, where do those particles go? Do they die out while floating in the bloodstream? I particularly want to ...
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Effect of HIV on T-cells
When HIV infects macrophages, it doesn't kill or destroy them immediately, but once it infects T-cells, they're destroyed. Why is that? As in why does it destroy T-cells and not macrophages or other ...
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Can HIV be transmitted via mosquitos?
It is known that HIV is usually transmitted by direct blood or body fluid contact between an infected individual and a healthy person (like blood transfusion or needle sharing):
Suppose a mosquito ...
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Why is HIV so large compared to other viruses?
The HIV-1 virus is about 120-150 nm in size and has a genome only about 10,000 base pairs long.
Other viruses are far more efficient, for example lambda phage has something like a tenth the volume ...
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Why is HIV associated with weight loss/being underweight? [closed]
It seems that people with HIV are often underweight, is there something (or multiple things) which cause HIV sufferers to lose weight? What is happening within the body as a direct effect of HIV that ...
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In the life-cycle of the HIV virus, how does the created DNA enter the nuclear membrane?
I am in a high school biology class, so I cannot truly attest to how accurate the information I am given is, but as far as I know only RNA and very small molecules can enter the nuclear membrane ...
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Why is AIDS not a congenital disease?
AIDS can easily pass from mother to the newborn, then why do we not consider it to be a congenital disease (or syndrome)
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How is HIV evolutionarily viable despite its extreme virulence?
How does HIV survive natural selection? And how has it managed to kill far more than any non-airborne virus in recorded history?
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Engineered CD8 T-cell therapy for HIV infection
CD8 T-cells are effective in controlling HIV during the early phase of the infection. However by the time, the virus mutates and develops an evasion mechanism against CD8 T-cells.
Since cancer cells ...
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What are the effects of removing CD4 receptors?
If the gene for the CD4 receptor was removed, would the person's immune system work normally? Could a new artificial receptor be substituted in place of CD4?
Could HIV infection be prevented in this ...
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HIV and open reading frames
In Wilk et al. 2001 I saw that HIV has 3 open reading frames. In the Watts et al. 2009, I noticed they mentioned HIV has 9 open reading frames. I don't understand this very well.
e.g.
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Why does HIV belong to a group of retroviruses called lentiviruses?
HIV is an enveloped retrovirus. Each virus particle contains two copies of an RNA genome. The virus also has a number of enzymes: reverse transcriptase, integrase and viral protease. But, once I also ...
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Transmission of HIV from Mother-to-Child Through Breastfeeding
If a mother is HIV+ and was on medications which would help her deliver a HIV negative baby, can the baby contract the HIV through her breast milk?
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Why is an HIV infection considered "incurable"?
My biology teacher told me that if one caught HIV, they cannot be cured because it was near to impossible to be completely virus-free. She said this was because HIV keeps on changing its glycoprotein ...
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