AIDSWEEKLY Plus; Monday, August 29, 2005
Staff Medical Writers

According to recent research published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, "Dendritic cells (DCs) are essential antigen-presenting cells for the induction of T cell immunity against pathogens such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1. At the same time, HIV-1 replication is strongly enhanced in DC-T cell clusters, potentially undermining this process."

"We found that immature CD123+ plasmacytoid DCs (PDCs) and CD11c+ myeloid DCs (MDCs) were susceptible to both a CCR5-and a CXCR4-using HIV-1 isolate in vitro and were able to efficiently transfer that infection to autologous CD4+ T cells," reported K. Lore and colleagues at the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

"Soon after HIV-1 exposure," the authors said, "both PDCs and MDCs were able to transfer the virus to T cells in the absence of a productive infection. However, once a productive infection was established in the DCs, newly synthesized virus was predominantly spread to T cells."

"HIV-1 exposure of the MDCs and PDCs did not inhibit their ability to present cytomegalovirus (CMV) antigens and activate CMV-specific memory T cells. As a result," continued Lore, "both PDCs and MDCs preferentially transmitted HIV-1 to the responding CMV antigen-specific CD4+ T cells rather than to nonresponding T cells."

Scientists concluded, "This suggests that the induction of antigen-specific T cell responses by DCs, a process crucial to immune defense, can lead to preferential HIV-1 infection and the deletion of responding CD4+ T cells."

Lore and colleagues published their study in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (Myeloid and plasmacytoid dendritic cells transfer HIV-1 preferentially to antigen-specific CD4+ T cells. J Exp Med. 2005 Jun 20;201(12):2023-33.

For additional information, contact K. Lore, NIAID, Immunology Laboratory, Vaccine Research Center, NIH, Bldg 10, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.

The publisher's contact information for the Journal of Experimental Medicine is: Rockefeller University Press, 1114 First Avenue, 4TH FL, New York, NY 10021, USA.

Keywords: Bethesda, Maryland, United States, HIV/AIDS, Cytomegalovirus, Dendritic Cells, Antigen-Specific CD4+ Cells, Immune Defense.

This article was prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other reports.

Reference

Lore K, Smed-Sorensen A, et al. Myeloid and plasmacytoid dendritic cells transfer HIV-1 preferentially to antigen-specific CD4+ T cells, J Exp Med. 2005 Jun 20;201(12):2023-33.

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