Question

HIV virus hides from the immune system in two ways. What are these two methods of disguising itself?

Answer 1

HIV’s outer protein layer (glycol protein) has Nef, a kind of protein that interferes with ability of our defense system to recognize infected cells thereby making them as target of killing. Protein Nef of the HIV virus binds to the helper system in a way that immune system starts believing that this belong to their own system and hence the infected cells remain unrecognized.

Secondly, the HIV-1 envelope protein is also flexible enough to take different shapes due to which it can enter into T-cells. The flexibility to adopt to conformation make it resistant to the immune system.