Expert Review of Anti-infective Therapy

ISSN: 1478-7210 (Print) 1744-8336 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ierz20

Lentiviruses and Macrophages: Molecular and

Cellular Interactions

Christopher Power

To cite this article: Christopher Power (2010) Lentiviruses and Macrophages: Molecular and
Cellular Interactions, Expert Review of Anti-infective Therapy, 8:9, 985-986, DOI: 10.1586/eri.10.82

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1586/eri.10.82

Published online: 10 Jan 2014.

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 Book Review
For reprint orders, please contact reprints@expert-reviews.com

Lentiviruses and Macrophages:

Molecular and Cellular Interactions
Expert Rev. Anti Infect. Ther. 8(9), 985–986 (2010)

“One of the major strengths of this book is the breadth of the

topics covered, including all of the relevant lentiviruses together
with their structure, replicative properties, putative receptors
and corresponding host responses.”

Macrophages and related myeloid cells, consequences of the HIV/AIDS global

including dendritic cells, microglia,
Kuppfer cells and Langerhans cells, rep-
resent cell populations with an extra­
ordinary capacity to influence health and
disease. Their range of functions and plas-
Editor: Moira Desport ticity are unsurpassed by other cell types
Publisher: Caister Academic Press, involving phagocytosis and antigen pre-
Norwich, UK sentation, and are sources of trophic and
toxic host molecules including reactive
ISBN: 978-1904455608 oxygen species, cytokines, chemo­k ines,
proteases and prosta­glandins. Lentiviruses
are unique among retro­v iruses in their
ability to infect and replicate in terminally
differentiated cells, particularly mac-
rophages. Lentiviruses and Macrophages
addresses the relationship between lentivi-
rus infections and macrophages as target
cells, together with their ensuing effects
on pathogenesis.
The book covers a wide range of
lenti­v iruses, including the immuno­
suppression lentiviruses – HIV, feline
immunodeficienty virus, simian immuno­
deficiency virus (SIV), simian–human
chimeric immunodeficiency virus and
bovine immunodeficiency virus – as
Christopher Power well as non-immune-suppressing lenti-
University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, viruses, such as the small ruminant len-
T6G 252, Canada
tiviruses (visna-maedi virus and caprine
chris.power@ualberta.ca
arthritis–encephalitis virus) and equine
infectious anemia virus (EIAV), together
with chapters devoted to macrophage biol-
ogy and lentivirus superinfections. Indeed,
lentiviruses have a long and colorful legacy
in mammalian diseases, with the initial
recognition of EIAV infection in horses
giving rise to what was termed ‘Swamp
fever’; however, given the overwhelming
epidemic and the increasing popularity
of lentiviruses as gene delivery tools, this
book contains highly relevant material for
scientists working in many different fields
related to retroviral infections.
“Lentiviruses are unique among
retroviruses in their ability to
infect and replicate in terminally
differentiated cells...”
One of the major strengths of this
book is the breadth of the topics covered,
including all of the relevant lentiviruses
together with their structure, replicative
properties, putative receptors and corre-
sponding host responses. In particular,
the chapter on EIAV provides highly
detailed information on both clinical and
molecular attributes of the virus. The cita-
tions within each chapter are uniformly
compre­hensive and up-to-date, providing
the reader with a sense of what is cur-
rently happening in each field, together
with seminal past papers. A fine example
of this contemporaneous aspect of the
book is the chapter on superinfections by
Sue Vandewoude and Mary Poss, which
not only deals with HIV and SIV super­
infections and recombination events, but
also draws on the exciting area of the ecol-
ogy of puma immuno­suppression virus
superinfection in wild felids. In part, this
attractive feature of the book stems from
the choice of authors: both leaders as well
as astute observers in their respective
areas were selected. Chapters by Ronald
Montelaro, Wendy Maury, Brian Willet

www.expert-reviews.com 10.1586/ERI.10.82 © 2010 Expert Reviews Ltd ISSN 1478-7210 985

 Book Review Power
and Paul Gorry represent some of the contemporary experts pro-
viding informative and focused chapters; conversely, the chapter
on macrophage biology by a non-lentivirologist, Ian Ross, is an
outstanding review of the topic and fits well with the rest of the
book. In many chapters, the figures are excellent; they are not sim-
ply lifted from previous articles but were designed to complement
the concepts outlined in the text.
There are, however, areas that could be enhanced within the
book. For example, there was little information on the evolution
of lentiviruses and their acquisition of accessory genes over time.
As discussed throughout the book, individual accessory genes’
functions (and origins) remain inscrutable for many lenti­viruses.
Moreover, the link between explicit viral properties and pathogen-
esis arising from infections was unclear in some chapters, probably
because these areas remain ill-defined for several lenti­viruses. In
some cases, specific chapters focus on the authors’ prime interests
such as virus–receptor interactions, with little attention paid to a
larger literature devoted to signaling pathways leading to diseases.
The impact of lentiviral infections on individual macrophage-
related populations, such as micro­glial or dendritic cells, might
warrant greater attention because of their immediate clinical sig-
nificance and the capacity of all lenti­viruses to infect microglia,
causing encephalitis, and the vital role of dendritic cells in anti-
gen presentation. Albeit a small oversight, the intriguing literature
outlining a putative lagomorph endogenous lentivirus was not
addressed within this edition of the book. One major area deserv-
ing greater consideration is the application of lentiviruses to gene
delivery. The development of non-pathogenic and high-efficiency
986
lentiviral vectors has moved this field substantially over the past
decade to include HIV, feline immunodeficiency virus and SIV
elements, and merits further attention in a subsequent edition
because of their ability to infect macrophages and related cell types.
Similarly, the impact of coinfections, such as cytomegalovirus,
which uses myeloid cells as a reservoir, is a topic for a future edition.
“...the book is highly readable and will appeal to
investigators and trainees working in a wide
spectrum of fields...”
In summary, this is an excellent book tackling key issues in
the field of lentiviruses and their infection of macrophages.
Certainly, the topics within the book exceed the principal objec-
tive as outlined at the outset to provide readers with compre-
hensive and current information regarding this field. In fact,
the book is highly readable and will appeal to investigators and
trainees working in a wide spectrum of fields including virology,
viral pathogenesis, vaccinology/immunology, gene therapy, both
human and veterinary infectious diseases and epidemiology.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
The author has no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any
organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with
the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes
employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert
testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.
Expert Rev. Anti Infect. Ther. 8(9), (2010)