Why HIV progresses very slowly in some people
A small percentage of people infected with HIV can go years before they develop AIDS, even without medication, and researchers think they’ve uncovered why.
Low cholesterol in immune cells changes the body’s ability to transmit the virus to other cells, scientists say. Having low cholesterol in certain cells is likely an inherited trait, but it could point to new ways to fight HIV.
When someone is infected with HIV, the virus is picked up by immune system cells called dendritic cells. Ultimately the virus is passed on to T cells, which HIV uses to replicate.
This allows the virus to eventually overwhelm the immune system, which leads to AIDS.
Some people with the virus do not experience the loss of T cells and the rapid increase in HIV. They can sometimes go many years, even more than a decade, without the virus seriously compromising the immune system or leading to AIDS.
Source: Epoch Times
Published: 30 Apr 2014
