Comments by Martin Markowitz, Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, New York
According to Martin Markowitz, a staff investigator at the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center of the New York University School of Medicine, the main significance of this paper is that "it establishes high levels of viral production as the engine that drives the disease in HIV-1 pathogenesis."
High levels of virus had always been correlated with the end stages of HIV infection, characterized by the depletion of helper T cells -- also called CD4 lymphocytes -- and the progression of the disease. But, Markowitz notes, until now, the research community had little insight into the rates of viral and T- cell turnover in people with AIDS. In this paper, the researchers showed that "there is a high level of viral replication throughout the stages of infection, including the so-called latent phase, when the disease appears to be clinically silent," ...
