Viral dynamics in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection

• Published in: Nature (London) Vol. 373; no. 6510; pp. 117 - 122
• Main Authors: Wei, Xiping, Ghosh, Sajal K, Taylor, Maria E, Johnson, Victoria A, Emini, Emilio A, Deutsch, Paul, Lifson, Jeffrey D, Bonhoeffer, Sebastian, Nowak, Martin A, Hahn, Beatrice H, Saag, Michael S, Shaw, George M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing 12-01-1995; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: AIDS/HIV; Antiviral Agents - therapeutic use; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; CD4 Lymphocyte Count; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes - immunology; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes - virology; Cell Survival; DNA, Viral; Drug Resistance, Microbial - genetics; Drugs; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genotype; HIV; HIV Infections - drug therapy; HIV Infections - immunology; HIV Infections - virology; HIV Protease Inhibitors - pharmacology; HIV Reverse Transcriptase; HIV-1 - genetics; HIV-1 - immunology; HIV-1 - physiology; Human immunodeficiency virus; human immunodeficiency virus 1; Humans; Immunodeficiencies; Immunodeficiencies. Immunoglobulinopathies; Immunopathology; Leukocytes, Mononuclear - virology; Life span; Medical research; Medical sciences; Microbiology; Molecular Sequence Data; Mutation; Phenotype; Replicative cycle, interference, host-virus relations, pathogenicity, miscellaneous strains; Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors; RNA, Viral - blood; RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase - genetics; Viremia - drug therapy; Viremia - virology; Virology; Virus Replication - drug effects; Virus Replication - physiology; Viruses; Human; Immunopathology; Virus multiplication; HIV-1 virus; Retroviridae; AIDS; Clearance; Immune deficiency; Infection; Virus; Resistance; In vivo; Viral disease; Turnover; Lentivirinae; Antiviral; Human immunodeficiency virus; Kinetics
• ISSN: 0028-0836; 1476-4687
• DOI: 10.1038/373117a0

The dynamics of HIV-1 replication in vivo are largely unknown yet they are critical to our understanding of disease pathogenesis. Experimental drugs that are potent inhibitors of viral replication can be used to show that the composite lifespan of plasma virus and virus-producing cells is remarkably short (half-life approximately 2 days). Almost complete replacement of wild-type virus in plasma by drug-resistant variants occurs after fourteen days, indicating that HIV-1 viraemia is sustained primarily by a dynamic process involving continuous rounds of de novo virus infection and replication and rapid cell turnover.