Editorial: Characterization of HIV-1 variants: implications for HIV-1 prevention, treatment and cure.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses articles within the issue on topics including the role of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-1 and CD4 downregulation functions of the pathogenic accessory HIV-1 Nef protein in the differences in prevalence of viruses, role of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 entry phenotypes in pathogenesis, and barriers to HIV-1 cure.