HIV and its action on CD4 T Lymphocytes - Part One

Welcome back to my blog, it is a pleasure for me to be able to share content with you, and somehow to be able to say that I teach something to those who read my posts.

In this opportunity I come to socialize about a topic that is very common, and it is specifically about HIV, but not only to say that it is "a disease that affects the immune system ", which is something that is known in a general way, but I would like to explain it a little more in detail from the cellular point of view, so that you can easily visualize the process by which HIV affects the cells of our body.

So I invite you to continue reading this publication if you want to learn more about our immune system and how it is affected by the Acquired Immunodeficiency Virus. This will be the first part of this series of publications.

Let's start by clarifying some concepts, beginning with differences through the concepts of terms that are often confused, such as HIV and AIDS.

• HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is a virus that can damage a person's immune system and make it more difficult for the body to fight infection and disease. HIV is transmitted primarily through unprotected sexual contact, sharing contaminated needles, and from mother to child during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding (the latter to a lesser extent).

• AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is a serious disease of the immune system that occurs when HIV severely damages the immune system and weakens the body's ability to fight infection and disease. **AIDS is the final stage of HIV infection and develops when the immune system is severely compromised and the body is highly vulnerable to infections and opportunistic diseases.

These are infections and diseases that would not normally affect a person with a healthy immune system.

It is also necessary to understand the function of two types of white blood cells, CD4 T cells and CD8 T cells.

• TCD4 lymphocytes are a type of white blood cell that are part of the immune system and play an important role in fighting infections. TCD4 lymphocytes are a type of T-lymphocyte, which are activated when the body is exposed to infections and other foreign substances. TCD4 lymphocytes are important for adaptive immunity, which is a type of immune response that develops as the body encounters new infections or foreign substances. Their functions are elemental for the protection of our body, and it is precisely these that HIV affects, let's understand their function:

• TCD4 lymphocytes recognize and attack cells infected by viruses and other infections.

• They also play an important role in activating other types of white blood cells that fight infection, such as B lymphocytes and monocytes. This is one of the crucial points when they start to be destroyed as a product of the virus attack, since they do not fulfill this function, and thus are not able to call upon other defense cells to act in the presence of infections or cancer cells.

This is one of the main points that is often tested through laboratories in people with HIV infection, since the number of TCD4 lymphocytes decreases as the virus damages the immune system. This can make people with HIV more prone to opportunistic infections and diseases, which are infections and diseases that would not normally affect a person with a healthy immune system.

Pixabay/ Author: madartzgraphics

Therefore, TCD4 cells are an important measure of the health of the immune system of a person with HIV and are used to determine disease progression and the need for treatment.

Now let's talk about CD8 T-cells:

• These are a type of white blood cell that are part of the immune system and play an important role in fighting infections. They are activated when the body is exposed to infections and other foreign substances. CD8 T cells recognize and attack cells infected by viruses and other infections. They also play an important role in activating other types of infection-fighting white blood cells, such as B lymphocytes and monocytes.

In people with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) infection, the number of CD8 T-lymphocytes may increase as the immune system tries to fight infection (as opposed to CD4 T-lymphocytes, which rather decrease). However, as HIV damages the immune system, the number of CD8 T cells may also decrease.

These are basically the cells that are affected in a person with HIV, and it is their dysfunction that causes the problem in the sufferer, until AIDS occurs.

So, at this point I want to make it clear that the fact that a person has HIV does not imply that he/she will have AIDS. At present, there are medications that allow the virus to be kept under control. And of course, it is not only about medications but also about other necessary care, such as beneficial changes in lifestyle, but I will talk about this later on.

Pixabay/ Author: padrinan

If a person does not receive treatment, HIV can progress to AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), which as I said is a serious condition that can affect many organs and body systems and can lead to death.

It is important to note that currently there is no cure for HIV, however medical treatment can control the virus and prolong the lives of people living with it. It is important that people with HIV receive treatment as soon as possible to prevent the virus from damaging their immune system and to prevent the transmission of HIV to others.

I hope this general information can be of help to those who read me, I still feel that people have many doubts about it, even though there is a lot of information at hand. Any questions, doubts or suggestions, please leave them in the comments. In my next post I will explain how HIV attacks the TCD4 lymphocytes and the different types of treatments that exist to treat it.

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• Links consulted

• CD4+T Cells: Differentiation and Functions

• Expanding roles for CD4+ T cells in immunity to viruses

• CD8+ T Cells: Foot Soldiers of the Immune System

• Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)