Adaptation of CD8 T cell responses to changing HIV-1 sequences in a cohort of HIV-1 infected individuals not selected for a certain HLA allele.

HIV evades CD8 T cell mediated pressure by viral escape mutations in targeted CD8 T cell epitopes. A viral escape mutation can lead to a decline of the respective CD8 T cell response. Our question was what happened after the decline of a CD8 T cell response and - in the case of viral escape - if a new CD8 T cell response towards the mutated antigen could be generated in a population not selected for certain HLA alleles.

Control of M184V HIV-1 mutants by CD8 T-cell responses.

Antiretroviral treatment directed against HIV is highly effective, yet limited by drug resistance mutations. We hypothesized that CD8 T cells targeting drug-resistant HIV mutants are able to inhibit viral replication in the setting of a failing therapeutic regimen. We evaluated CD8 T-cell responses and mapped epitopes in HIV-infected patients by interferon-gamma Elispot and intracellular cytokine staining.

Impact of changes in antigen level on CD38/PD-1 co-expression on HIV-specific CD8 T cells in chronic, untreated HIV-1 infection.

Excessive immune activation is a hallmark of chronic uncontrolled HIV infection. During the past years, growing evidence suggests that immune inhibitory signals also play an important role in progressive disease. However, the relationship between positive and negative immune signals on HIV-specific CD8 T cells has not been studied in detail so far in chronic HIV-1 infection.