Since our results and other studies (Cormier and Dragic, 2002; Morikis et al., 2007; Shen et al., 2000) show that HIV coat proteins can bind and activate CCR5, thus activating its memory suppressor functions, our results suggest that besides the neuroinflammation induced neurodegeneration that can cause HIV-associated cognitive deficits, CCR5 activation by HIV coat proteins also contributes to the cognitive deficits caused by HIV. Here, CCR5 is linked to Cognitive impairment.