Artikel
Analysis of HIV-1-specific CTL cross-reacting with Influenza A virus in a cohort of HIV-1 infected patients
Analyse von HIV-1-spezifischen CTL mit Kreuzreaktion zu Influenza A in einer Kohorte von HIV-1-infizierten Patienten
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Veröffentlicht: | 2. Juni 2010 |
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Background: Recently, it has been shown that HLA-A2 restricted HIV-1-specific CTL recognizing the p17-epitope SL9 (SLYNTVATL) may cross-react with the influenza matrix epitope IMP (GILGFVFTL; Acierno et al., J translational Med, 2003) that is a dominant influenza epitope in HLA-A2 positive patients. So far, the prevalence of IMP-crossreacting HIV-1-specific CTL in larger HIV-1 infected patient cohorts is unknown and there are no data yet, whether SL9/IMP-cross-reactive CTL influences the course of HIV-1 infection.
Methods: We stimulated PBMC from 108 HLA A2 positive, HIV-1 infected patients (102 on antiretroviral therapy, 6 without therapy) in vitro with the HIV-1 p17 peptide SL9 and the influenza matrix protein peptide IMP. Outgrowing cell lines were analyzed regarding cross-reactivity between SL9 and IMP, peptide avidities and recognition of viral variants in у-IFN-Elispot assays.
Results: We could detect SL9-specific CTL in 58 patients and IMP-specific CTL in 65 patients. Outgrowing SL9-specific CTL lines cross-reacted to SL9 in 34 patients and outgrowing IMP-specific CTL lines to SL9 in 29 patients. Patients with cross-recognition of IMP and SL9 had a tendency of lower viral loads prior to starting antiretroviral therapy, but the differences were not significant (p=0.062, Man-Whitney-U-Test).
Conclusion: A significant proportion of HLA A2-positive patients have HIV-1 p17-specific CTL cross-reacting with a dominant IMP epitope. So far, we could not detect a significant influence of the presence of SL9/IMP-crossreacting CTL on the course of HIV-1 infection. Further studies are needed to assess whether SL9/IMP-cross-reactive CTL may lower the risk of transmission in HIV-1 exposed uninfected subjects and whether they may reduce the risk of developing symptomatic influenza A infection in HIV-1 infected patients.