Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 5 July 1996:
Vol. 273. no. 5271, pp. 30 - 0
DOI: 10.1126/science.273.5271.30
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Research News

Jon Cohen

Despite much recent progress in understanding the AIDS virus, researchers are still unclear about how it causes the immunodeficiency that is the hallmark of the disease. But recent studies of the telomeres--the specialized stretches of genetic material at the ends of the chromosomes--are providing a clue. At least in one type of immune cell, the telomeres have turned out to be much shorter in AIDS patients than in healthy age-matched controls. Because telomeres are thought to shorten every time a cell divides, this finding suggests that the virus is essentially wearing out the immune system as it struggles to overcome the infection.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The Survival Experience of Older and Younger Adults with AIDS: Is there a Growing Gap in Survival?.
A. C. Justice and S. Weissman (1998)
Research on Aging 20, 665-685
   Abstract »
Role of Fas Ligand and Receptor in the Mechanism of T-Cell Depletion in Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome: Effect on CD4+ Lymphocyte Depletion and Human Immunodeficiency Virus Replication.
E.M. Sloand, N.S. Young, P. Kumar, F.F. Weichold, T. Sato, and J.P. Maciejewski (1997)
Blood 89, 1357-1363
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)