Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) shows a very narrow host range limited only to humans and chimpanzees. HIV-1 dose not experimentally infect Old World monkeys, such as rhesus and cynomolgus monkeys, and fails to replicate in activated CD4 positive T lymphocytes obtained from those monkeys. Several lines of evidence have suggested that the block of HIV-1 replication in Old World monkey cells occurred at a post-entry step and appeared to result from a failure to initiate reverse transcription. Recently, the screening of a rhesus monkey cDNA library identified tripartite motif 5 (TRIM5) alpha, a component of cytoplasmic bodies, as a factor that confers resistance to HIV-1 infection. Shortly after, TRIM5alpha of African green monkey, another Old World monkey, was also shown to restrict HIV-1 infection, while human TRIM5alpha was reported to restrict N-tropic murine leukemia virus. Small amino acid differences in the SPRY domain among human and monkey TRIM5alphas were reported to determine species-specific restriction. This review discusses about anti-viral activity of TRIM5alpha.