Skip to main content
. 2015 Jun 18;12:51. doi: 10.1186/s12977-015-0178-0

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Mechanistic model of HIV-induced persistent immune-activation. a HIV enters CD4-expressing plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs); b the virus is endocytosed, decapsided and its RNA is recognized by toll-like receptor 7 (TLR-7); c stimulation of TLR-7 prompts a signaling cascade inducing IFN-α transcription in the nucleus; d production of IFN-α favors activation of several cell subsets such as T, B and natural killer (NK) lymphocytes. Chloroquine (CQ) is postulated to reduce the efficiency of this mechanism by accumulating in endosomes and decreasing HIV-mediated TLR-7 signaling [44].