Word: cd4
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Their investigation begins with a white blood cell called CD4. It is the linchpin of the immune system and the main target of HIV. As a general rule, people who become infected by HIV suffer a drop in their CD4 count from a normal level of about 1,200 cells per 1/1000th of a mL of blood to 500 cells or less. The risk of developing one or more of the illnesses associated with AIDS rises dramatically if the CD4 count drops below...
...most striking things about the healthy survivors is that after the initial drop, their CD4 count stabilizes -- usually above 500. Assaulted but not overwhelmed, they no longer lose any ground against HIV. One possible explanation is that these men were exposed to a strain of the virus that is naturally weaker than most. The immune system subdues the less malevolent virus, allowing the body to fend off any new attacks by more dangerous strains. In the same way, English milkmaids who suffered from cowpox in the 18th century developed an immunity to the disease that also protected them against...
...most surprising findings has been the discovery of a subset of healthy, long-term survivors who have lived for years with CD4 counts less than 200. For the most part, they do not develop the secondary infections that are associated with AIDS, or if they do, they tend to recover. This only goes to prove that there is a lot about the immune system that immunologists still do not understand. Some researchers believe these men managed to press other white blood cells into service to make up for the CD4 deficiency...
...STRAIN OF THE AIDS VIRUS EMERGED, threatening to ravage the world like its better-known cousin? That looked possible last summer, when scientists at an international AIDS conference reported on patients who had strikingly low levels of CD4 cells -- the same immune-system cells that are destroyed in AIDS sufferers -- but were not infected by the HIV virus...
...acid RNA) surrounded by a protein coat. A virus lacks the tools to reproduce unless it invades a living cell and takes over the host's molecular machinery. The intruder can then produce many copies of itself, eventually killing the cell. One of HIV's favorite targets is the CD4 T-cell, an important player in the human immune system...