Autocrine production of β-chemokines protects CMV-specific CD4 + T cells from HIV infection
Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Date
10-1-2009
Journal
PLoS Pathogens
Volume
5
Issue
10
DOI
10.1371/journal.ppat.1000646
Abstract
Induction of a functional subset of HIV-specific CD4+ T cells that is resistant to HIV infection could enhance immune protection and decrease the rate of HIV disease progression. CMV-specific CD4+ T cells, which are less frequently infected than HIV-specific CD4+ T cells, are a model for such an effect. To determine the mechanism of this protection, we compared the functional response of HIV gag-specific and CMV pp65-specific CD4+ T cells in individuals co-infected with CMV and HIV. We found that CMV-specific CD4+ T cells rapidly up-regulated production of MIP-1α and MIP-1β mRNA, resulting in a rapid increase in production of MIP-1α and MIP-1β after cognate antigen stimulation. Production of b-chemokines was associated with maturational phenotype and was rarely seen in HIV-specific CD4+ T cells. To test whether production of β-chemokines by CD4+ T cells lowers their susceptibility to HIV infection, we measured cellassociated Gag DNA to assess the in vivo infection history of CMV-specific CD4+ T cells. We found that CMV-specific CD4+ T cells which produced MIP-1β contained 10 times less Gag DNA than did those which failed to produce MIP-1β. These data suggest that CD4+ T cells which produce MIP-1α and MIP-1β bind these chemokines in an autocrine fashion which decreases the risk of in vivo HIV infection.
APA Citation
Casazza, J., Brenchley, J., Hill, B., Ayana, R., Ambrozak, D., Roederer, M., Douek, D., Betts, M., & Koup, R. (2009). Autocrine production of β-chemokines protects CMV-specific CD4 + T cells from HIV infection. PLoS Pathogens, 5 (10). http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1000646