ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). It says that the effects of HIV proteins on macrophage/microglia suggest that viral proteins are important contributors to the activation events leading to HIV-induced neuroinflammation. This chapter explains various reports that demonstrate the different mechanisms of neuroinflammation through various HIV proteins and differential clinical picture by different HIV clades. This chapter outlines the models of HIV infection, including simian and feline immunodeficiency virus infection. It says that viral proteins, particularly tat, nef, and cytokines, prostaglandins, proteases, arachidonic acid, or quinolinic acid metabolites produced by activated brain resident cells are attributed to neuroinflammation. This suggests that HIV neuropathogenesis is a gradual process and HIV-induced neuroinflammation may begin at any time in the course of infection. This chapter outlines the neuropathology of primary HIV-1-associated CNS disorders,is characterized as HIV-1-associated neurocognitive disorders (HANDs) and that can be distinguished from secondary processes such as opportunistic infections or malignancies.
