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World J Virology. May 12, 2015; 4(2): 124-133
Published online May 12, 2015. doi: 10.5501/wjv.v4.i2.124
Key role of human leukocyte antigen in modulating human immunodeficiency virus progression: An overview of the possible applications
Alba Grifoni, Carla Montesano, Vittorio Colizzi, Massimo Amicosante
Alba Grifoni, Carla Montesano, Vittorio Colizzi, Department of Biology, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, 00100 Rome, Italy
Massimo Amicosante, Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, 00133 Rome, Italy
Author contributions: Grifoni A generated the figures and wrote the manuscript; Montesano C and Colizzi V had equally contributed to the writing of the manuscript; Amicosante M designed the aim of the editorial and wrote the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest: The authors declare to have not commercial or other conflict of interest within the presentation of the data reported in the manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Massimo Amicosante, PhD, Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Via Montpellier 1, 00133 Rome, Italy. amicosan@uniroma2.it
Telephone: +39-6-72596202 Fax: +39-6-72596205
Received: November 9, 2014
Peer-review started: November 10, 2014
First decision: December 26, 2014
Revised: January 20, 2015
Accepted: February 10, 2015
Article in press: February 12, 2015
Published online: May 12, 2015
Processing time: 172 Days and 15.7 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease progression depends on several host factors. Among them human leukocyte antigen (HLA) locus has a main role due to the peculiar capability to modulate both innate and adaptive immune response. In this review, the role of HLA molecules and its receptors in HIV progression toward acquired immunodeficiency disease syndrome is summarized. A better knowledge about HLA-peptide presentation and recognition by immune cells will open new applications in HIV vaccine and diagnostics design.