@article{9a362802706545c4b5234df2227c90d6,
title = "Chronic inflammation with increased human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) RNA expression in the vaginal epithelium of HIV-infected Thai women",
abstract = "Thai residents have a greater risk of heterosexual transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) than do US residents. To analyze host factors associated with heterosexual transmission, vaginal epithelial biopsies from HIV-seropositive Thai and US women were evaluated for tissue virus load and histologic makeup. In all, 84% of Thai and 14% of US women exhibited a chronic inflammatory T cell infiltrate in the vaginal epithelium. In Thai tissue, the infiltrate was associated with elevated levels of HIV RNA in the epidermis. Uninfected Thai women also had vaginal epithelial inflammation. Inflammation did not correlate with sexually transmitted diseases or HIV disease stage. The higher rates and increased risk of heterosexual transmission in Thailand may be due to chronic inflammation at the site where the virus is transmitted, which leads to the accumulation of activated T cells. Such cells might act as targets for initial viral infection and subsequently as reservoirs that support efficient transmission.",
author = "Cohn, {Michael A.} and Frankel, {Sarah Schlesinger} and Sungwal Rugpao and Young, {Mary A.} and Gerald Willett and Sodsai Tovanabutra and Chirasak Khamboonruang and Thomas VanCott and Lertlakana Bhoopat and Sandra Barrick and Cecil Fox and Quinn, {Thomas C.} and Maryanne Vahey and Nelson, {Kenrad E.} and Drew Weissman",
note = "Funding Information: 1Howard Hughes Medical Institute–National Institutes of Health (NIH) Research Scholars Program and 2Laboratory of Immunoregulation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, 3Division of Retrovirology, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, and 4Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Rockville, 5Molecular Histology Laboratories, Gaithersburg, and 6Division of Infectious Diseases and 7School of Hygiene and Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland; 8Department of Infectious and Parasitic Disease Pathology, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, and Departments of 9Infectious Diseases and 10Obstetrics and Gynecology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC; 11Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; 12Research Institute for Health Sciences, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand Funding Information: Financial support: National Institutes of Health (HIVNET contract AI-35173; grants HL-62060 and AI-45318 to D.W.).",
year = "2001",
month = aug,
day = "15",
doi = "10.1086/322780",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "184",
pages = "410--417",
journal = "Journal of Infectious Diseases",
issn = "0022-1899",
publisher = "Oxford University Press",
number = "4",
}