title: Immune response to HIV.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Major advances have been made in the delineation of HIV-specific immune response and in the mechanisms of virus escape. The kinetics of the immunological and virological events occurring during primary HIV infection indicate that the establishment of the latent HIV reservoir, the major obstacle to HIV eradication likely occurs during the very early stages of primary infection, that is, the 'eclipse phase', prior to the development of the HIV-specific immune response which has limited efficacy in the control of the early events of infection. Therefore, the window of opportunity to develop effective interventions either to clear HIV during primary infection or to prevent rebound of HIV in patients successfully treated who stop antiretroviral therapy is very narrow.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Genetic factors most strongly associated with nonprogressive infection are human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I alleles and particularly HLA-B5701. CD4 and CD8 T-cell responses with polyfunctional profile are associated with nonprogressive infection. Broader neutralizing antibodies are detected 3-4 years after infection, generated only in 20% of individuals but show no efficacy in the control of HIV replication.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the present review, we shall discuss the different components of the HIV-specific immune response elicited by the infection, the kinetics of these responses during primary infection and the changes following transition to the chronic phase of infection, and the functional profile of 'effective' versus 'noneffective' HIV-specific immune responses.
authors.affiliation: Division of Immunology and Allergy bSwiss Vaccine Research Institute, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Matthieu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Perreau
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Levy
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pantaleo
mesh_terms: D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000276:immunology; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral