HIV wreaks much of its damage by targeting the “orchestra conductor” of the immune system, a key class of T cells — CD4+ T cells — whose destructive relationship with HIV has been well-studied by AIDS researchers. More poorly understood has been the effect of HIV on another key class of immune cells, antibody-producing B cells. The malfunction of B cells in HIV-infected patients was first described more than 20 years ago by H. Clifford Lane, M.D., Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., and colleagues at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Now, writing in the Sept. 7 online edition of The Journal of Experimental Medicine, Dr. Fauci, Susan Moir, Ph.D., Angela Malaspina, Ph.D., and their colleagues identify a number of pathways that HIV activates to damage or destroy B cells.
