Characteristics of HIV target CD4 T cells collected using different sampling methods from the genital tract of HIV seronegative women.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Understanding the immune profile of CD4 T cells, the primary targets for HIV, in the female genital tract (FGT) is critical for evaluating and developing effective biomedical HIV prevention strategies in women. However, longitudinal investigation of HIV susceptibility markers expressed by FGT CD4 T cells has been hindered by low cellular yield and risk of sampling-associated trauma. We investigated three minimally invasive FGT sampling methods to characterize and compare CD4 T cell yield and phenotype with the goal of establishing feasible sampling strategies for immune profiling of mucosal CD4 T cells.

Methods and results

FGT samples were collected bimonthly from 12 healthy HIV negative women of reproductive age in the following order: 1) Cervicovaginal lavage (C

SUBMITTER: Iyer SS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5453484 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature