HIV-1 burden as a marker of disease progression and clinical response to therapy in AIDS.

In summary, much still needs to be learned about the pathogenetic significance of changes in virus load and importantly, the clinical significance of therapy-induced changes in virus load. The failure of current therapeutic regimens to effect a substantive and durable change in virus load is not a failure of the virologic markers per se but is a call for better antiretroviral and immunotherapeutic-based approaches to treat infected patients. At the same time, the experimental therapeutic regimens should be used to elucidate the unresolved pathogenetic nuances of HIV-1 burden that are a necessary prerequisite for developing a more effective containment of replicating HIV-1 and prolonging the lives of our HIV-1-infected patients.