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Elevated Numbers of HIV-Specific Poly-Functional CD8(+) T Cells With Stem Cell-Like and Follicular Homing Phenotypes in HIV-Exposed Seronegative Individuals

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Last modified
  • 05/22/2025
Type of Material
Authors
    Sivasankaran Munusamy Ponnan, Indian Council of Medical ResearchKannan Thiruvengadam, Indian Council of Medical ResearchSujitha Kathirvel, Indian Council of Medical ResearchJanani Shankar, Indian Council of Medical ResearchAkshaya Rajaraman, Indian Council of Medical ResearchManikannan Mathaiyan, Indian Council of Medical ResearchThongadi Ramesh Dinesha, YR Gaitonde YRG Center for AIDS Research and EducationSelvamuthu Poongulali, Voluntary Healthy ServicesShanmugam Saravanan, YR Gaitonde YRG Center for AIDS Research and EducationKailapuri Murugavel, YR Gaitonde YRG Center for AIDS Research and EducationSoumya Swaminathan, Indian Council of Medical ResearchSrikanth Prasad Tripathy, Indian Council of Medical ResearchUjjwal Neogi, Karolinska InstitutetVijayakumar Velu, Emory UniversityLuke Elizabeth Hanna, Indian Council of Medical Research
Language
  • English
Date
  • 2021-03-15
Publisher
  • Frontiers Media SA
Publication Version
Copyright Statement
  • © 2021 Munusamy Ponnan, Thiruvengadam, Kathirvel, Shankar, Rajaraman, Mathaiyan, Dinesha, Poongulali, Saravanan, Murugavel, Swaminathan, Tripathy, Neogi, Velu and Hanna.
License
Final Published Version (URL)
Title of Journal or Parent Work
Volume
  • 12
Start Page
  • 638144
End Page
  • 638144
Grant/Funding Information
  • This work was supported in part by National Institutes of Health Grants 1R01AI148377-01A1, R01 HD095741-01, CFAR R03 (to VV), Emory University CFAR grant P30 AI050409 and NCRR/NIH base grants P30 RR00165, P51OD011132 (to Y.N.P.R.C).
  • UN was supported through the Swedish Research Council Establishment Grants (2017-01330 and 2018-06156).
  • The present study was supported by the Department of Health Research (Human Resource Development Young Scientist Fellowship) and the Indian Council of Medical Research, Government of India.
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Abstract
  • HIV-specific CD8+ T cells are known to play a key role in viral control during acute and chronic HIV infection. Although many studies have demonstrated the importance of HIV-specific CD8+ T cells in viral control, its correlation with protection against HIV infection remains incompletely understood. To better understand the nature of the immune response that contributes to the early control of HIV infection, we analyzed the phenotype, distribution and function of anti-viral CD8+ T cells in a cohort of HIV-exposed seronegative (HESN) women, and compared them with healthy controls and HIV-infected individuals. Further, we evaluated the in vitro viral inhibition activity of CD8+ T cells against diverse HIV-1 strains. We found that the HESN group had significantly higher levels of CD8+ T cells that express T-stem cell-like (TSCM) and follicular homing (CXCR5+) phenotype with more effector like characteristics as compared to healthy controls. Further, we observed that the HESN population had a higher frequency of HIV-specific poly-functional CD8+ T cells with robust in vitro virus inhibiting capacity against different clades of HIV. Overall, our results demonstrate that the HESN population has elevated levels of HIV-specific poly-functional CD8+ T cells with robust virus inhibiting ability and express elevated levels of markers pertaining to TSCM and follicular homing phenotype. These results demonstrate that future vaccine and therapeutic strategies should focus on eliciting these critical CD8+ T cell subsets.
Author Notes
Keywords
Research Categories
  • Biology, Cell
  • Health Sciences, Pathology
  • Health Sciences, Immunology
  • Biology, Microbiology

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