Treating HIV-1 infection with dendritic cells.

The orchestration of a coordinated immune response by dendritic cells (DCs) make them an attractive target for pathogens to exploit to evade host immunity, as well as for use in therapeutic strategies to overcome this exploitation. Because HIV-1 infection is predominantly a disease of the immune system, targeting DCs for therapeutic strategies to counter the effects of HIV-1 on DCs and other immune effector cells is a timely and extremely dynamic endeavor. Our knowledge of DC function and the interaction between HIV-1 and DCs is rapidly increasing. This review focuses on HIV-1-DC interactions, the impact of these on DC therapeutics for the treatment of HIV-1-infected individuals and the current status of DC-based therapeutic vaccines for HIV-1 infection.