Soluble factors mediating innate immune responses to HIV infection

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection represents one of the biggest challenges faced by the scientific community in recent years. HIV was discovered in the early '80s and has caused one of the most dramatic epidemics (known as the Acquired ImmunoDeficiency Syndrome, AIDS) of the last (and current) century. Very extensive knowledge has been accumulated on the virus as well as on the deleterious effect of viral proteins for the host, leading to efficient therapies controlling viral replication. However, in the face of the great advances in antiretroviral therapy scientists and physicians still do not have effective countermeasures for preventing infection with microbicides or vaccines and for eradicating the infection in those who have already acquired HIV, while the selection of drug-resistant strains, as well as side-effects, represents frequent problems for those under antiretroviral regimens. Massimo Alfano (Ed) All rights reserved -