CRP and infection: In order to test for potential interference with the infection process we evaluated the ability of acute phase proteins AAT, A-SAA and C-reactive protein (CRP) and the C-terminal AAT fragments 397–418 and 377–396 (VIRIP) to inhibit HIV-1 replication using in vitro peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) and dendritic cell (DC) infection models.