An illustration of a CD4+ T cell engulfing a dendritic cell. A new study finds that specialized receptors gave CD4+ T cells the ability to kill HIV-infected dendritic cells in culture.ISTOCK, LUISMMOLINAResearchers trying to develop new treatments, or even a cure, for HIV have searched for strategies by looking to the tiny percentage of the HIV-positive population with a rare gift: the ability to naturally keep the virus’s numbers low, without a need for antiretroviral therapies. In doing so, researchers have discovered differences in the behavior of immune cells between these “elite controllers” and patients who require drugs, suggesting it could be possible to fine-tune the immune responses of noncontrollers to help them fend off the virus.
Now, researchers led by Stephanie Gras of Monash University in Victoria, Australia, report how an unusual T-cell receptor found in the CD4+ T cells of some elite controllers is able to recognize low levels of HIV and mount a response. Gras says the finding, reported today (June 8) in Science Immunology, may be good news for the prospect of developing an immunotherapy to rev up the CD4+ attack on HIV.
The research team has added “an additional cornerstone in our understanding of how HIV controllers maintain virus control,” says clinical infectious disease specialist Andrea De Maria of the University of Genoa in Italy who was not involved in the study. He adds that the findings “could open the possibility of immunotherapy, a little bit like ...
