T Cells in Acute HIV-1 Infection

Abstract

The requirements for priming of HIV-specific T cell responses initially seen in infected individuals remain to be defined. Activation of T cell responses in lymph nodes requires cell-cell contact between T cells and DCs, which can give concurrent activation of T cells and HIV transmission.The study aim was to establish whether DCs pulsed with HIV-1 could prime HIV-specific T cell responses and to characterize these responses. Both infectious and aldrithiol-2 inactivated noninfectious HIV-1 were compared to establish efficiencies in priming and the type of responses elicited. T cells prime targets for elimination.Our studies highlight the ability of DCs to efficiently prime naïve T cells and induce a broad repertoire of HIV-specific responses and also provide valuable insights to the pathogenesis of HIV-1 infection in vivo