Major depletion of plasmacytoid dendritic cells in HIV-2 infection, an attenuated form of HIV disease.

ABSTRACT: Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) provide an important link between innate and acquired immunity, mediating their action mainly through IFN-alpha production. pDC suppress HIV-1 replication, but there is increasing evidence suggesting they may also contribute to the increased levels of cell apoptosis and pan-immune activation associated with disease progression. Although having the same clinical spectrum, HIV-2 infection is characterized by a strikingly lower viremia and a much slower rate of CD4 decline and AIDS progression than HIV-1, irrespective of disease stage. We report here a similar marked reduction in circulating pDC levels in untreated HIV-1 and HIV-2 infections in association with CD4 depletion and T cell activation, in spite of the undetectable viremia found in the majority of

SUBMITTER: Cavaleiro R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2773933 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature