Cell death during HIV infection

Although immune-based therapies have been the primary focus in the battle to arrest HIV, researchers now are considering the implications of apoptosis dysregulation during HIV-induced immunodeficiency.

Mounting evidence indicates that cell death is not a passive process, but rather one that is tightly coordinated and regulated.

This opens the door to the intriguing possibility that apoptotic cell death may be amenable to novel treatment strategies. "Cell Death During HIV Infection" explores and encourages the excitement surrounding apoptosis by providing researchers and clinicians with the first comprehensive compendium of the progress made in understanding the process of cell death related to HIV and the potential breakthroughs in treatment that already are beginning to offer much promise.

Combining the research of more than two-dozen leaders in their respective fields, this seminal volume provides clinicians and researchers with an excellent reference, while also serving as an incubator to stimulate future research. It explains the fundamental biology involved with apoptosis, looks in particular at how it works in HIV, detailing its clinical impact, and examines the therapeutic approaches that presently are being explored. "Cell Death During HIV Infection" should be considered required reading for immunologists, virologists, and molecular biologists, as well as those scientists at biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies developing AIDS drugs.

Clinicians caring for AIDS patients also will garner much insight from this book, as well as a newfound hope for what future research may bring.

Research has revealed that multiple, likely simultaneous, processes contribute to the enhanced CD4 T cell apoptosis leading to immune deficiency.

In all likelihood, apoptotic dysregulations are cell-type dependent; cells that become latent reservoirs for HIV, by definition, do not succumb to the proapoptotic effects of infection.

Such complexities suggest the existence of multiple avenues for intervention, which include antiapoptotic approaches to limit HIV-induced T cell depletion and proapoptotic approaches designed to eradicate latent infections.