In:
European Journal of Immunology, Wiley, Vol. 35, No. 3 ( 2005-03), p. 796-805
Abstract:
A lower function of EBV‐specific CD8 + T cells in HIV‐infected subjects could be related to a lack of specific CD4 + T cell help. Therefore, we studied EBV‐specific CD4 + T cells in both healthy donors and untreated or highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART)‐treated HIV‐seropositive homosexual men. To this end, PBMC were stimulated with overlapping peptide pools from a latent and a lytic EBV protein, EBV nuclear antigen (EBNA)1 and EBV lytic‐switch protein ZEBRA (BZLF1), respectively. EBV‐specific CD4 + T cell frequencies measured directly ex vivo were low. To measure EBV‐specific memory CD4 + T cells, capable of both expansion and IFN‐γ production upon antigenic challenge, we developed a specific and reproducible assay, combining ex vivo expansion of specific T cells with flow cytometric analysis of IFN‐γ production. Untreated HIV‐infected individuals had a lower CD4 + T cell response to both EBNA1 and BZLF1 as compared to healthy EBV carriers and HAART‐treated HIV‐positive subjects. This suggests loss of EBV‐specific CD4 + T cells due to HIV infection, while HAART might restore this response. In addition, we found an increase in the EBNA1‐specific CD8 + T cell response in HAART‐treated subjects. Interestingly, numbers of EBV‐specific CD4 + and CD8 + T cells were inversely correlated with EBV viral load, suggesting an important role also for EBV‐specific CD4 + T cells in the control of EBV infection.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0014-2980
,
1521-4141
DOI:
10.1002/eji.200425792
Language:
English
Publisher:
Wiley
Publication Date:
2005
detail.hit.zdb_id:
1491907-2
Permalink