title: HIV-1 burden as a marker of disease progression and clinical response to therapy in AIDS.
abstract: In summary, much still needs to be learned about the pathogenetic significance of changes in virus load and importantly, the clinical significance of therapy-induced changes in virus load. The failure of current therapeutic regimens to effect a substantive and durable change in virus load is not a failure of the virologic markers per se but is a call for better antiretroviral and immunotherapeutic-based approaches to treat infected patients. At the same time, the experimental therapeutic regimens should be used to elucidate the unresolved pathogenetic nuances of HIV-1 burden that are a necessary prerequisite for developing a more effective containment of replicating HIV-1 and prolonging the lives of our HIV-1-infected patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle.
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Coombs
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000821:virology*; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D012107:Research Design; D014779:Virus Replication
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D004279:DNA, Viral