TIGIT is upregulated by HIV-1 infection and marks a highly functional adaptive and mature subset of natural killer cells.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Our objective was to investigate the mechanisms that govern natural killer (NK)-cell responses to HIV, with a focus on specific receptor--ligand interactions involved in HIV recognition by NK cells.

Design and methods

We first performed a mass cytometry-based screen of NK-cell receptor expression patterns in healthy controls and HIV individuals. We then focused mechanistic studies on the expression and function of T cell immunoreceptor with Ig and ITIM domains (TIGIT).

Results

The mass cytometry screen revealed that TIGIT is upregulated on NK cells of untreated HIV women, but not in antiretroviral-treated women. TIGIT is an inhibitory receptor that is thought to mark exhausted NK cells; however, blocking TIGIT did not improve anti-HIV NK-cell responses. In f

SUBMITTER: Vendrame E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7148170 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature