Thanks to antiretrovirals, people living with HIV can lead long, relatively healthy lives. But even if the virus is nearly undetectable, people living with HIV are more likely to suffer from chronic inflammation than those without it, which can put them at risk of several diseases, including atherosclerosis and various neurological disorders
Now, a new study published in Cell Reports on November 22 finds that a protein produced by HIV called Nef can cause long-lasting chronic inflammation in a mouse model of HIV—and that the inflammation may persist even if the virus is totally suppressed or even eliminated. This, the researchers behind the study posit, could explain why such inflammation occurs in people with HIV.
“It’s a very nice paper,” says Mike Powell, a molecular biologist at Morehouse School of Medicine who was not involved in the study. “We’ve thought that Nef was involved in this inflammation for some time ...
