Early events in sexual transmission of HIV and SIV and opportunities for interventions.
To constrain the growth of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and ultimately end it, effective measures must be developed to prevent sexual mucosal transmission, the major route by which new infections are acquired. I review sexual mucosal transmission of HIV and SIV, with a focus on vaginal transmission in the SIV rhesus macaque animal model, and the evidence for small founder populations of infected cells and the local expansion at the portal of entry necessary to establish systemic infection. These early events represent windows of maximum opportunity for interventions to prevent systemic infection. I highlight the paradoxical role the innate immune response plays in actually facilitating transmission, and a novel microbicide strategy that targets this innate response to prevent systemic infection, and I conclude with an agenda for future research that emphasizes mucosal immunology, virology and pathogenesis studies at each anatomic site of entry.
Department of Microbiology, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA. haase001@umn.edu
Ashley T
AT
Haase
D016915:AIDS Vaccines / Q000276:immunology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000818:Animals; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission*; D006801:Humans; D007848:Laurates / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008297:Male; D050178:Monoglycerides / Q000627:therapeutic use; D009092:Mucous Membrane / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D018449:SAIDS Vaccines / Q000276:immunology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016097:Simian Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission*; D013501:Surface-Active Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014621:Vagina / Q000821:virology*
D016915:AIDS Vaccines; D000998:Antiviral Agents; D007848:Laurates; D050178:Monoglycerides; D018449:SAIDS Vaccines; D013501:Surface-Active Agents; C020777:monolaurin