Description:

The cell-mediated immune response is likely to be important in controlling HIV/SIV infection. There is evidence that β-chemokines and other, as yet unknown, anti-viral factors play a role in host defence against HIV infection. We reported previously that HIV-2 exposed but seronegative cynomolgus macaques developed SIV-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes and were resistant to mucosal SIV challenge. The aim of this study was to examine CD8+ cell-dependent production of β-chemokines and other anti-viral factors in these macaques. The animals, selected from among 17 monkeys enrolled in two separate experiments, were either treated with an anti-viral drug or immunized passively with HIV-2 antibody-positive serum. Three of these monkeys were protected against repeated HIV-2 challenge and were also able to control SIV infection 3 years later. Control samples were obtained from four macaques that became SIV infected and from 39 naïve animals. The three resistant monkeys showed significantly higher production of RANTES and MIP-1α than the 39 naïve animals. In addition, SIV infection was suppressed by CD8+ cell culture supernatants of these monkeys. However, antibodies to chemokines only partially neutralized CD8+ cell-mediated SIV suppression indicating that the anti-viral activity observed in these monkeys was the result of combined action of several inhibitory factors.

Although suppression of apoptosis contributes to immune-reconstitution during potent antiretroviral therapy, its relationship with the major’s indicators of response to therapy, that is, changes in CD4+ cell counts and in viral loads (VL), is still debated. We extended our previous study by collecting data on the relationships among apoptosis and immunological and virological parameters during a long-term follow-up of HIV patients with an overall positive response to potent antiretroviral therapy. We report results from 15 patients who completed two years of therapy. In a smaller group of patients, we focused our attention on investigating the specific contribution of the CD8+ subset in the overall changes in lymphocyte apoptosis, which occur concomitantly with the response to the therapy. Our data, while again confirming that inhibition of PBMC apoptosis is a phenomenon strictly related to a positive response to potent antiretroviral therapy, suggest that CD4+ cell rescue is not directly dependent on inhibition of CD4+ cell apoptosis but rather on that of the CD8+ subset. HIV replication and LTR-mediated gene expression can be modulated by CD8+ cells in a cell type-dependent manner. We have previously shown that supernatant fluids of activated CD8+ cells of HIV-infected individuals suppress long terminal repeat (LTR)-mediated transcription of HIV in T cells while enhancing transcription in monocytic cells. Here, we have examined the effect of culture of T cells and monocytic cells with CD8+ supernatant fluids, and subsequent binding of transcription factors to the HIV-1 LTR. In transfections using constructs in which NFκB or NFAT-1 sites were mutated, the LTR retained the ability to respond positively to culture with CD8 supernatant fluid in monocytic cells.

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Benny
Journal Coordinator
Global Journal of Research and Review