Human Immunodeficiency Viruses (HIV)

Keith A Crandall, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA

Published online: November 2001

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0000417

Human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are the aetiological agents of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

Keywords: drug resistance; AIDS; vaccine; phylogeny; evolution

Figure 1. Estimated phylogenetic (evolutionary) relationships among human immunodeficiency virus types 1 (HIV-1), types 2 (HIV-2) and simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs), including the three main groups of HIV-1 (groups O, N and M) as well as all the major subtypes of HIV-1 within group M (subtype A–K). The phylogeny is based on amino acid sequences from the Pol protein. Courtesy of David Robertson.
Figure 2. Genome organization of the human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1). The shaded regions are the structural genes common to all primate lentiviruses (gag, pol and env). In addition, there are essential regulatory genes (tat and rev) and nonessential genes (nef, vif, vpu and vpr). LTR, long terminal repeat.
Figure 3. The replication cycle of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (after Coffin, 1999) showing the seven main steps in HIV replication: (1) viral entry, (2) DNA synthesis, (3) integration, (4) transcription, (5) RNA processing and transport, (6) protein synthesis, and (7) assembly and budding.
Figure 4. The typical course of infection and disease progression in human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1)-infected patients showing the change in CD4+ counts and viral load over time (from Viscidi, 1999). Highlighted are the three main stages of disease progression: (1) primary infection followed by an immune response by the host, leading to (2) a period of clinical latency during which the virus eventually evolves a way to get around the host immune system (and even drug therapy), leading to (3) a clinical diagnoses of AIDS.
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 Further Reading
    ePath Center for AIDS Prevention Studies at the University of California San Francisco. [http://www.caps.ucsf.edu/]
    ePath Center for Disease Control and Prevention Information Network. [http://www.cdcnpin.org/]
    book Coffin JM, Hughes SH and Varmus HE (eds) (1997) Retroviruses. Cold Spring Harbor: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.
    book Crandall KA (ed.) (1999) The Evolution of HIV. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
    ePath Journal of the American Medical Association's website for HIV. [http://www.ama-assn.org/special/hiv/hivhome.htm]
    ePath Los Alamos National Laboratory HIV Database. [http://hiv-web.lanl.gov/]
    ePath National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Division of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. [http://www.niaid.nih.gov/research/daids.htm]
    ePath The Body: An AIDS and HIV Information Resource. [http://www.thebody.com/index.shtml]
    ePath UNAIDS – Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. [http://www.unaids.org/index.html]

Related Sub-Topics:

Immunodeficiency | Virus Diseases | Viruses Infecting Humans | RNA Viruses
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Article Title: Human Immunodeficiency Viruses (HIV)
 
How to Cite close
Crandall, Keith A(Nov 2001) Human Immunodeficiency Viruses (HIV). In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0000417]