Control of HIV-1 infection by soluble factors of the immune response

An increasing body of evidence indicates that the immune system uses a range of soluble molecules to suppress certain viral infections without killing infected host cells. Recent studies indicate that such factors might have an especially important role in the immune response to HIV-1. Accordingly, this review uses HIV-1 as a model to explore the diversity of non-cytolytic antiviral factors and considers how these molecules might be used to develop new therapeutic and prophylactic strategies to fight viral infections.