Why so many antibodies fail to protect against HIV infection

Thursday, November 18, 2010 - 22:00 in Health & Medicine

Researchers have been stymied for years over the fact that people infected with the AIDS virus do indeed produce antibodies in response to the pathogen – antibodies that turn out to be ineffective in blocking infection. Now, scientists at Duke University Medical Center can explain why: Some of the earliest and most abundant antibodies available to fight HIV can't actually "see" the virus until after it's already invaded a healthy cell.