Due to its inherently attenuated phenotype, the study of HIV-2 infection constitutes an exceptionally good model to understand virologic and immunologic mechanisms that enable the human host to cope with an HIV infection for such a long period of time and may help us to learn how to develop immunity against HIV-1.

Since 2001 we have been conducting independent research on HIV-2 pathogenesis focused in viral interaction with cellular receptors, particularly chemokine receptors usage as coreceptors. The intrinsic implications of this basic research in viral fitness, viral entry inhibition, and pathogenic outcome of HIV-2 infection are inherently addressed as applied clinical research.