Strenuous resistance to natural HIV-1 disease progression: viral controllers and long-term nonprogressors. (April 2011)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Riva, Agostino; Vicenzi, Elisa; Galli, Massimo; Poli, Guido
• Is Part Of: Future virology. Volume 6:Number 4(2011)
• Page Start: 521
• Page End: 533
• Publication Date: 2011-04
• Subjects: AIDS -- ART -- elite controllers -- genome-wide association study -- HIV -- HIV controllers -- HLA -- long-term nonprogressors -- viremia; Virology -- Periodicals; Virus diseases -- Treatment -- Periodicals; 616.9101
• DOI: 10.2217/fvl.11.25
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1746-0794

Abstract

HIV-1 infection leads to AIDS and death within 8––10 years for most individuals in the absence of antiretroviral therapy (ART). However, a minority of infected individuals show the unusual capacity to spontaneously control disease progression after infection in the absence of any ART. So-called ''long-term nonprogressors'' are defined by maintenance of peripheral CD4 + T-cell counts >500 cells/µµl and good health without ART for >7 years since infection. More recently, ART-naive individuals who spontaneously control their viremia levels at either <50 or <2000 copies of RNA/ml for at least 12 months in the absence of ART have been named ''elite controllers'' and ''HIV controllers'', respectively. The overlap between long-term nonprogressors and elite controllers/HIV controllers is partial, and both groups collectively account for <5% of all infected individuals. Unraveling the nature of their relative resistance to HIV-1 disease progression would be of great value for HIV-prevention strategies.