Polyfunctional analysis of Gag and Nef specific CD8+ T-cell responses in HIV-1 infected Indian individuals
- Resource Type
- Article
- Authors
- Mendiratta, Sanjay; Vajpayee, Madhu; Mojumdar, Kamalika; Chauhan, Neeraj K.; Sreenivas, Vishnubhatla
- Source
- Vaccine. Feb2011, Vol. 29 Issue 6, p1150-1158. 9p.
- Subject
- *IMMUNOGENETICS
*T cells
*IMMUNE response
*MEMBRANE proteins
*HIV-positive persons
*VIRAL replication
*ANTIGENS
*LYMPHOCYTES
*SEROCONVERSION
- Language
- ISSN
- 0264-410X
Abstract: Polyfunctional CD8+ T-cells have been described as most competent in controlling viral replication. We studied the impact of antigen persistence on the polyfunctional immune responses of CD8+ T-lymphocytes to HIV Gag and Nef peptides and polyclonal stimuli in 40 ART naïve HIV infected individuals and analyzed the alterations in T-cell functionality in early and late stages of infection. Significantly elevated level of global response and polyfunctional profile of CD8+ T-cells were observed to polyclonal stimulation, than HIV specific antigens in chronically infected individuals. However no key differences were observed in CD8+ T-cell functional profile in any of the 15 unique subsets for Gag and Nef specific antigens. The subjects in early stage of infection (defined as a gap of 6 months or less between seroconversion and enrolment and with no apparent clinical symptoms) had a higher degree of response functionality (4+ or 3+ different functions simultaneously) than in the late stage infection (defined as time duration since seroconversion greater than 6 months). The data suggest that persistence of antigen during chronic infection leads to functional impairment of HIV specific responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]