ABSTRACT
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has a unique capacity to infect cells of the human immune system, leading eventually to frank immunodeficiency. The virus has usurped a variety of molecules of the immune system, such as CD4 and chemokine receptors, to gain entry into cells. HIV can utilize the millieu of an activated immune system to its own replicative advantage; thus, activation and mobilization of the immune response, which are intended to thwart the virus, instead fuel its replication and spread.
