Impaired response of HIV type 1-specific CD8(+) cells from antiretroviral-treated patients

• Published in: AIDS research and human retroviruses Vol. 23; no. 10; p. 1279
• Main Authors: Lozano, J M, De la Rosa, O, García-Jurado, G, Luque, J, Solana, R, Kindelán, J M, Rivero, A, Peña, J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01-10-2007
• Subjects: Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active; CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes - immunology; CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes - metabolism; CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes - virology; HIV Infections - drug therapy; HIV Infections - immunology; HIV Infections - virology; HIV-1 - immunology; Humans; Interferon-gamma - metabolism; Perforin - metabolism; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha - metabolism
• ISSN: 0889-2229
• DOI: 10.1089/aid.2007.0082

Impairment of the response of HIV-specific CD8(+) T cells, in spite of the high frequency of occurrence of these cells even in the advanced phase of HIV-1 infection, has been demonstrated. It is also known that new antiretroviral treatments are able to reduce the viral load and partially repair the immunological damage caused by HIV-1, but it is not clear whether the extent of these changes affects the functional profile of HIV-specific CD8(+) T cells. We evaluated, in HIV-1(+) patients undergoing antiretroviral therapy, the HIV-specific CD8(+) subset distribution and their functional capacity as intracellular expression of IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha, and perforin after PMA stimulation. Our results indicate that HIV-1(+)-treated individuals show distributions of HIV-specific CD8 subsets similar to nontreated patients, while the frequency of HIV-specific CD8 cells expressing IFN-gamma and perforin after stimulation is lower in HAART-treated patients. This indicates that HAART, which controls viral replication, may impair the HIV-specific CD8(+) response.