Boosting immunity against immunosuppressive infections

Abstract

Chapter 11 explored the topic of virus-induced suppression of specific immune responses. In particular, we concentrated on the importance of helper cell impairment because this is a central feature of several persistent human viruses, such as HIV, HBV, and HCV. As explained in chapter 4, helper cell responses can be crucial for the resolution of viral infections by CTL. Therefore, if the impairment of helper cell responses can be reversed by treatment, long-term immunological control of the infection could be achieved without the need for further therapy. Long-term immune mediated control is a particularly desirable outcome with these persistent human infections because drug therapy comes with severe side effects and is difficult to tolerate. The subject of this chapter is to explore how therapy can be used to achieve long-term immunological control of immunosuppressive infections.