This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Ioachim, H. L. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Ioachim, H. L.

Immunopathogenesis of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection¹

Departments of Pathology, Lenox Hill Hospital, Cornell University Medical College, and College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY 10021

The acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is associated with a broad spectrum of opportunistic infections and neoplasias that differ from those occurring in the general population by their high aggressiveness, unusual location, early tendency to generalization, frequent relapse, and short survival. The severe complications of AIDS, however, represent only the last phase in a prolonged course of progressive dysfunction and destruction of the immune system set in motion by the infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). While substantial progress was achieved in the ultrastructural identification and biochemical characterization of HIV, its mode of action in the causation of AIDS is not yet fully understood.

This article explores the main processes involved in the HIV infection and in its role in the origin of AIDS. It describes the phases of HIV infection, investigates the effects of HIV on the various components of the immune system, and analyzes the pathogenesis of the HIV-induced lymphadenopathies and encephalopathy, as well as the causes and mechanisms of AIDS-associated opportunistic infections and opportunistic neoplasias. The total failure of immune surveillance against a host of infectious and oncogenic agents, unprecedented in human pathology, is thus traced to the initial event of specific HIV infection of the CD4 T-lymphocytes.