HIV tat and neurotoxicity.

Department of Pathology, F727, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1300 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY 10461, USA.

HIV tat is the transactivator of HIV-1, supporting efficient viral replication by stabilizing the transcription of viral genes. Tat can be released from HIV-infected cells and alter several functions in uninfected cells. In the brain, tat induces neuronal dysfunction/toxicity, even though neurons cannot be directly infected with HIV, resulting in CNS pathology, such as the dementia and encephalitis associated with NeuroAIDS. This review discusses the most recent data addressing tat-induced neurotoxicity and integrates these new findings in the context of NeuroAIDS.

PMID: 16697675 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]