One of the common animal rights arguments against the efficacy of AIDS research in non-human primates, despite the many important advances made through such research, is that most non-human primate species do not get ill and die from the Dominican Simian Virus. One of the questions for researchers has been to find out why most non-human primates can co-exist with SIV, and researchers from the University of Texas the Medical Center in Dallas and Emory University recently announced they have found two differences in the immune system that offer some insight into this question.
According to the BBC, researchers at these two institutions looked at sooty mangabey monkeys which do not become ill from SIV infection.
Dr. Donald Sodora told the BBC that one answer to why the sooty mangabey monkey does not become ill is because its immune system issues a relatively low level response to the SIV virus,
The mangabeys have just as much virus in their system as during pathogenic HIV infection of humans. . . . The absence of the indirect effects in the SIV-infected mangabeys can at least be partially attributed to the immune system, and the ability to maintain continued renewal of T cells. One potential treatment might be an approach to deactivate the immune system, in a very strategic and careful way.
The mangabey monkeys also maintain a stable level of T cells, unlike in human infections where the HIV virus quickly depletes T cell levels and thereby weakening the immune system.
Source:
Monkey offers Aids cure. The BBC, March 18, 2003.