Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center

About: Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center is a facility organization based out in New York, New York, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Virus & Simian immunodeficiency virus. The organization has 563 authors who have published 966 publications receiving 118392 citations.

Rapid turnover of plasma virions and CD4 lymphocytes in HIV-1 infection

Abstract: Treatment of infected patients with ABT-538, an inhibitor of the protease of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), causes plasma HIV-1 levels to decrease exponentially (mean half-life, 2.1 +/- 0.4 days) and CD4 lymphocyte counts to rise substantially. Minimum estimates of HIV-1 production and clearance and of CD4 lymphocyte turnover indicate that replication of HIV-1 in vivo is continuous and highly productive, driving the rapid turnover of CD4 lymphocytes.

Identification of a major co-receptor for primary isolates of HIV-1

Abstract: Entry of HIV-1 into target cells requires cell-surface CD4 and additional host cell cofactors. A cofactor required for infection with virus adapted for growth in transformed T-cell lines was recently identified and named fusin. However, fusin does not promote entry of macrophage-tropic viruses, which are believed to be the key pathogenic strains in vivo. The principal cofactor for entry mediated by the envelope glycoproteins of primary macrophage-tropic strains of HIV-1 is CC-CKR-5, a receptor for the β-chemokines RANTES, MIP-1α and MIP-1β.

HIV-1 Dynamics in Vivo: Virion Clearance Rate, Infected Cell Life-Span, and Viral Generation Time

Abstract: A new mathematical model was used to analyze a detailed set of human immunodeficiency virus-type 1 (HIV-1) viral load data collected from five infected individuals after the administration of a potent inhibitor of HIV-1 protease. Productively infected cells were estimated to have, on average, a life-span of 2.2 days (half-life t1/2 = 1.6 days), and plasma virions were estimated to have a mean life-span of 0.3 days (t1/2 = 0.24 days). The estimated average total HIV-1 production was 10.3 × 109 virions per day, which is substantially greater than previous minimum estimates. The results also suggest that the minimum duration of the HIV-1 life cycle in vivo is 1.2 days on average, and that the average HIV-1 generation time—defined as the time from release of a virion until it infects another cell and causes the release of a new generation of viral particles—is 2.6 days. These findings on viral dynamics provide not only a kinetic picture of HIV-1 pathogenesis, but also theoretical principles to guide the development of treatment strategies.

HIV-1 entry into CD4+ cells is mediated by the chemokine receptor CC-CKR-5.

Abstract: The β-chemokines MIP-1α, MIP-1β and RANTES inhibit infection of CD4+ cells by primary, non-syncytium-inducing (NSI) HIV-1 strains at the virus entry stage, and also block env-mediated cell–cell membrane fusion. CD4+ T cells from some HIV-1-exposed uninfected individuals cannot fuse with NSI HIV-1 strains and secrete high levels of β-chemokines. Expression of the β-chemokine receptor CC-CKR-5 in CD4+ , non-permissive human and non-human cells renders them susceptible to infection by NSI strains, and allows env-mediated membrane fusion. CC-CKR-5 is a second receptor for NSI primary viruses.