News on the Pathogenesis of HIV Infection

Once again, the Retrovirus Conference, held thisyear in Denver, was a meeting point for the latestresearch on different aspects of HIV infection, frombasic science to clinical issues. Regarding pathogenesis,several sessions were devoted solely tothis important aspect, in which studies in non-primateanimal models and in humans were presented.From their findings, it is clear now that the majorityof CD4+ T-cell depletion following acute SIV/HIV infectionoccurs in the gut-associated lymphoid tissue(GALT). The vast majority of CD4+ T-cells in thislocation are infected and destroyed during the acutephase of infection and this occurs in both the pathogenicand nonpathogenic animal models, i.e. SIVinfectedmacaques and sooty mangabeys or Africangreen monkeys, respectively.