Viral Burden Comparison in Blood and Lymphoid Tissue for People With HIV

We are studying the pathogenesis of HIV infection and other immune dysfunctions. Because of the lack of an adequate animal model it is generally necessary to utilize human peripheral blood and lymphoid tissues cells for studying aspects of either in vivo or in vitro HIV infection. A dichotomy exists between the amount of HIV that can be measured in peripheral blood compared to lymphoid tissue, as well as the types of immune cells that reside in each compartment. We wish to be able to continue to elucidate many pathogenic aspects of HIV infection and other immune dysfunctions using human peripheral blood mononuclear cells and intact tissue or cells obtained from two major lymphoid organs, lymph nodes and bone marrow.