Unit 15: Immunology of AIDS 1 Download the PDF
Unit 16: Immunology of AIDS 2 (same PDF)
AIDS supplemental material (optional): How the epidemic started
There are two excellent reviews in the 11 March 2010 issue of Nature:
Haase, A.T. (2010) Targeting early infection to prevent HIV-1 mucosal transmission. Nature 464:217-223.
A discussion of the earliest events after HIV transmission that identifies problems and targets. There seems to be a period of a few days when viral load is very low, that might offer opportunities to block progression. Also mentioned is the perennial problem: What is the infectious agent—free virus, or virus-infected cells?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20220840
Virgin, H.W. and Walker, B.D. (2010) Immunology and the elusive AIDS vaccine. Nature 464:224-231.
A very good review of what's known about the life cycle of the virus and how it interacts with and evades the immune response.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20220841