R5 HIV-1 has enhanced replication over X4 HIV-1

According to recently published research from the United States, "To enter human cells, HIV-1 usually uses CD4 and 1 of 2 coreceptors: CCR5 and CXCR4. Interestingly, even though CCR5 is expressed on far fewer T cells than is CXCR4, many patients in early- and late-stage HIV disease maintain high levels of CCR5-tropic (R5) viruses."

"We hypothesized that such high R5 viral loads may be sustained because, relative to CXCR4-tropic (X4) HIV-1 infection, R5 HIV-1 infection of permissive CD4+CCR5+CXCR4+ T cells results in the production of significantly more infectious virus particles per target cell.

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