Measuring the contribution of ?? T cells to the persistent HIV reservoir.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To study the contribution of ?? T cells to the persistent HIV reservoir.

Design

Fifteen HIV-seropositive individuals on suppressive ART were included. We performed parallel quantitative viral outgrowth assays (QVOA) of resting CD4 T (rCD4) cells in the presence or absence of ?? T cells.

Methods

Resting ??+CD4 T cells were magnetically isolated from PBMCs using two different custom cocktails, only one kit contained antibodies to deplete ?? T cells, resulting in two populations: rCD4 cells and rCD4 cells depleted of ?? cells. Frequency of infection was analyzed by QVOA and DNA measurements.

Results

Recovery of replication-competent HIV from cultures of rCD4 cells was similar in 11 individuals despite the presence of ?? T cells. In four donors, HIV recovery was lower when ?? T cells were present. Expression of the cytotoxic marker CD16 on V?2 cells was the only variable associated with the lower HIV recovery. Our results highlight the potency of those responses since a mean of 10?000 ?? T cells were present within 2.5 million rCD4 cells. However, despite the low frequency of ?? T cells, the presence of cytotoxic V?2 cells correlated with lower HIV recovery from cultures of rCD4 cells.

Conclusion

Results of this study show that quantification of the contribution of ?? T cells to the reservoir is challenging because of their low numbers compared with conventional rCD4 cells and highlights the potent antiviral function of ?? T cells and the impact of their presence on the frequency of latent HIV infection.

SUBMITTER: James KS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6994336 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature