NK cell responses to simian immunodeficiency virus vaginal exposure in naive and vaccinated rhesus macaques.

ABSTRACT: NK cell responses to HIV/SIV infection have been well studied in acute and chronic infected patients/monkeys, but little is known about NK cells during viral transmission, particularly in mucosal tissues. In this article, we report a systematic study of NK cell responses to high-dose vaginal exposure to SIVmac251 in the rhesus macaque female reproductive tract (FRT). Small numbers of NK cells were recruited into the FRT mucosa following vaginal inoculation. The influx of mucosal NK cells preceded local virus replication and peaked at 1 wk and, thus, was in an appropriate time frame to control an expanding population of infected cells at the portal of entry. However, NK cells were greatly outnumbered by recruited target cells that fuel local virus expansion and were spatially dissociated fr

SUBMITTER: Shang L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4083479 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature