HIV outwits immune system, again
By John Travis
In another example of how the AIDS virus exploits its opponents, scientists have found that HIV uses immune system proteins to hitch rides on the antibody factories known as B cells.
Since B cells interact closely with T cells, the immune cells that HIV normally infects, the hitchhiking strategy may help the virus find potential host cells.
HIV infects a subset of T cells and, over time, reduces their number so much that a person’s immune system can’t fight off other infections. Consequently, scientists generally characterize AIDS as a T cell disease.