HIV gp120 in the Lungs of Antiretroviral Therapy-treated Individuals Impairs Alveolar Macrophage Responses to Pneumococci.

Rationale: People living with HIV are at significantly increased risk of invasive pneumococcal disease, despite long-term antiretroviral therapy (ART). The mechanism explaining this observation remains undefined.

Objectives: To determine if apoptosis-associated microbicidal mechanisms, required to clear intracellular pneumococci that survive initial phagolysosomal killing, are perturbed.