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Regulatory T cells: the ultimate HIV reservoir?
Despite significant advances in the understanding of HIV-1 infection, a cure remains out of reach. This is, in part, due to a long-lived HIV-1 reservoir in resting CD4+ T cells, which do not express viral antigens, and thus are invisible to the immune system. These latently infected cells carry repl...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Mediscript Ltd
2018
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6248834/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30515299 |
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author | Rocco, Joseph Mellors, John W Macatangay, Bernard JC |
author_facet | Rocco, Joseph Mellors, John W Macatangay, Bernard JC |
author_sort | Rocco, Joseph |
collection | PubMed |
description | Despite significant advances in the understanding of HIV-1 infection, a cure remains out of reach. This is, in part, due to a long-lived HIV-1 reservoir in resting CD4+ T cells, which do not express viral antigens, and thus are invisible to the immune system. These latently infected cells carry replication-competent proviruses and can cause rebound viraemia if antiretrovirals are interrupted. Characterising this HIV-1 reservoir is a challenging task, requiring identification of CD4+ T cell subsets carrying intact proviruses, as well as defining their distribution within the body. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) comprise a subset of CD4+ T cells that are essential for maintaining immune tolerance. HIV-1 is known to infect Tregs in vivo but there is limited understanding of their role in HIV-1 persistence. Recent studies of well-controlled HIV-1 infection on antiretroviral therapy (ART) have shown higher frequencies of inducible, intact proviruses in Tregs compared to other CD4+ T cells, and provirus-containing Tregs have been found in lymphoid tissues at substantial frequencies. This evidence is supportive of a latent HIV-1 reservoir in Tregs, but greater detail is needed, including tissue distribution. An HIV-1 reservoir in Tregs could pose a significant barrier to HIV-1 eradication because Tregs are known to be long lived and resistant to apoptosis. Tregs are also immunosuppressive, and can inhibit cell-mediated immunity through multiple mechanisms. Non-specific depletion of Tregs would be likely to result in severe autoimmunity. Additional research is needed to further characterise regulatory T cells as a reservoir of HIV-1 and as an obstacle to eradication, or immune control, of HIV-1 infection. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-6248834 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2018 |
publisher | Mediscript Ltd |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-62488342018-12-04 Regulatory T cells: the ultimate HIV reservoir? Rocco, Joseph Mellors, John W Macatangay, Bernard JC J Virus Erad Review Despite significant advances in the understanding of HIV-1 infection, a cure remains out of reach. This is, in part, due to a long-lived HIV-1 reservoir in resting CD4+ T cells, which do not express viral antigens, and thus are invisible to the immune system. These latently infected cells carry replication-competent proviruses and can cause rebound viraemia if antiretrovirals are interrupted. Characterising this HIV-1 reservoir is a challenging task, requiring identification of CD4+ T cell subsets carrying intact proviruses, as well as defining their distribution within the body. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) comprise a subset of CD4+ T cells that are essential for maintaining immune tolerance. HIV-1 is known to infect Tregs in vivo but there is limited understanding of their role in HIV-1 persistence. Recent studies of well-controlled HIV-1 infection on antiretroviral therapy (ART) have shown higher frequencies of inducible, intact proviruses in Tregs compared to other CD4+ T cells, and provirus-containing Tregs have been found in lymphoid tissues at substantial frequencies. This evidence is supportive of a latent HIV-1 reservoir in Tregs, but greater detail is needed, including tissue distribution. An HIV-1 reservoir in Tregs could pose a significant barrier to HIV-1 eradication because Tregs are known to be long lived and resistant to apoptosis. Tregs are also immunosuppressive, and can inhibit cell-mediated immunity through multiple mechanisms. Non-specific depletion of Tregs would be likely to result in severe autoimmunity. Additional research is needed to further characterise regulatory T cells as a reservoir of HIV-1 and as an obstacle to eradication, or immune control, of HIV-1 infection. Mediscript Ltd 2018-10-01 /pmc/articles/PMC6248834/ /pubmed/30515299 Text en © 2018 The Authors. Journal of Virus Eradication published by Mediscript Ltd http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This is an open access article published under the terms of a Creative Commons License. |
spellingShingle | Review Rocco, Joseph Mellors, John W Macatangay, Bernard JC Regulatory T cells: the ultimate HIV reservoir? |
title | Regulatory T cells: the ultimate HIV reservoir? |
title_full | Regulatory T cells: the ultimate HIV reservoir? |
title_fullStr | Regulatory T cells: the ultimate HIV reservoir? |
title_full_unstemmed | Regulatory T cells: the ultimate HIV reservoir? |
title_short | Regulatory T cells: the ultimate HIV reservoir? |
title_sort | regulatory t cells: the ultimate hiv reservoir? |
topic | Review |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6248834/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30515299 |
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