Does the HIV envelope induce a chronic graft-versus-host-like disease?

Abstract

Evidence is accumulating that susceptibility to disease following HIV infection is genetically restricted. In addition, activation of the immune response appears to play an important role in disease progression. Here, John Habeshaw and colleagues propose that HIV envelope glycoproteins mimic foreign MHC molecules and, in doing so, stimulate alloreactive lymphocytes. This activation may explain the marked clinical and immunological similarities between chronic GVHD and AIDS.