title: B cells in the pathogenesis of AIDS.
abstract: In this article, Susan Zolla-Pazner argues that the etiologic agent of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome may infect both B cells and T cells. An infection which activates B cells could alter immunological homeostasis, inducing the activation of suppressor T lymphocytes which impair helper T-cell activity. If the same lymphotrophic agent that infects B cells also destroys helper T cells, the abnormalities of both these sub-populations which are observed in AIDS are readily explained.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Pathology at the New York Veterans' Administration Medical Center and the New York University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zolla-Pazner