Because 0.5–5 g/L AAT inhibits HIV-1 infection without affecting the viability of CD4+ T cells and this concentration is within the range found in the human body (Fig. 1 and Additional file 2: Figure S2) [15, 24], 0.5 g/L AAT was used in the remainder of the study. The gene discussed is CD4; the disease is HIV-1 infection.