Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that establishes latent
infection in humans. The latency period varies in duration but eventually ends in
depletion of CD4+ T lymphocytes, secondary immunodeficiency and death from
opportunistic infections. The virus is a RNA virus with envelope and glycoprotein
spikes protruding from it. The envelope glycoprotein plays an essential role in viral
entry into the host cell. In addition, it is an important factor in the capacity of the virus
to escape the immune system forming the so called ‘glucan shield’ that protects the
virus from destruction. Both dendritic cells and B cells can carry the infectious virus on
their surface as they travel to T lymphocyte rich lymphoid organs and spread the
infection through their interaction with T cells. HIV has caused a worldwide epidemic
that is currently kept under control with retroviral therapy in the developed world but
has devastated large portion of the African continent. Tremendous efforts were put
forward by the world research community to develop vaccine against HIV that resulted
in moderate to poor protective efficacy of vaccine candidates.
Keywords: HIV, AIDS, Gag, Pol, Env, gp120, CD4+, retrovirus, Vpu, Vif, Vpr,
Nef, Tat, Rev, epidemic, latent, virion, budding, escape, immunosupression,
glycan shield, HERVs, V1/V2 loop, V3 loop, V4 loop, V5 loop, bridging sheet,
gp41, viremia, viral load, depletion of CD4, DC-SIGN, glycosylation, polyclonal
activation, complement, seroconversion, CCR5, CXCR4, Tregs