Role of HIV-specific CD8⁺ T cells in pediatric HIV cure strategies after widespread early viral escape.

ABSTRACT: Recent studies have suggested greater HIV cure potential among infected children than adults. A major obstacle to HIV eradication in adults is that the viral reservoir is largely comprised of HIV-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) escape variants. We here evaluate the potential for CTL in HIV-infected slow-progressor children to play an effective role in "shock-and-kill" cure strategies. Two distinct subgroups of children were identified on the basis of viral load. Unexpectedly, in both groups, as in adults, HIV-specific CTL drove the selection of escape variants across a range of epitopes within the first weeks of infection. However, in HIV-infected children, but not adults, de novo autologous variant-specific CTL responses were generated, enabling the pediatric immune system to "corne

SUBMITTER: Leitman EM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5679167 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature