title: Historical perspective on HIV‐exposed seronegative individuals: has nature done the experiment for us?
abstract: Multiple and frequent exposure to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) does not necessarily result in HIV infection. Approximately 15% of HIV exposed seronegative individuals repeatedly resist infection, a phenomenon that has been observed in all investigated HIV&#x2010;exposed cohorts. This brief report provides a limited historic perspective of the discovery of these cohorts and outlines some of the immunologic and genetic parameters that are associated with resistance. We raise the possibility that assessing immunologic parameters of the phenomenon might provide insights that might be relevant for effective AIDS vaccine design.
authors.affiliation: Experimental immunology Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: Gene
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shearer
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Clerici
mesh_terms: D015331:Cohort Studies; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000235:genetics / Q000266:history* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000635:transmission; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D012307:Risk Factors