How HIV effects the immune system

Mandeep Chhabra P4 AP Bio

What is HIV?
HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus
It is most commonly confused with AIDS HIV is the virus that leads to the disease of AIDS HIV weakens the immune system

It is transmitted sexually

How does the immune system work?

The immune system;
Identifies any foreign substances in the body T-cells

Creates an antibody to destroy it

B-cells

How does HIV impair the immune system?

HIV alters the function of these B and T-cells
It modifies the actin within the supporting structures of the
cell, causing them to become immobile

This means the immune system will not recognize foreign substances and will not produce the right antibodies
HIV Nem, a protein, reverses the particular function of Bcells, making them produce incorrect antibodies

HIVs Decisiveness

Why is there no cure for HIV?

Vaccinations are created by weakening the virus and synthesizing it HIVs genetic nature allows synthesis to become

difficult
HIV is 65x more likely to undergo mutations during

replication
A vaccine needs a replicated strand of DNA

Vaccination example

Will there ever be a cure?

Scientists are rapidly approaching a cure
Thanks to the advancements in science and technology

A few cases of HIV have been cured, these cases

include;
Stem cell transplants Transplanting DNA of HIV immune patients Treating the virus within a week of infection

References
http://people.ku.edu/~jbrown/hiv.html http://www.aids.gov/hiv-aidsbasics/just-diagnosed-with-hivaids/hiv-in-your-body/immune-system101/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl es/PMC2779527/ http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/ 2009/09/090916103426.htm

Thank you!