Break on through to the other side: How HIV penetrates the blood-brain barrier

(Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology) A new research report appearing in the Feb. 2015 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology solves this mystery by showing that HIV relies on proteins expressed by a type of immune cell, called 'mature monocytes,' to enter the brain. These proteins are a likely drug target for preventing HIV from reaching brain cells.