Dynamic interaction between STLV-1 proviral load and T-cell response during chronic infection and after immunosuppression in non-human primates.

ABSTRACT: We used mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) naturally infected with simian T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (STLV-1) as a model for evaluating the influence of natural STLV-1 infection on the dynamics and evolution of the immune system during chronic infection. Furthermore, in order to evaluate the role of the immune system in controlling the infection during latency, we induced immunosuppression in the infected monkeys. We first showed that the STLV-1 proviral load was higher in males than in females and increased significantly with the duration of infection: mandrills infected for 10-6 years had a significantly higher proviral load than those infected for 2-4 years. Curiously, this observation was associated with a clear reduction in CD4+ T-cell number with age. We also found that the percentage o

SUBMITTER: Souquiere S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2698465 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature