CTL-mediated immunotherapy can suppress SHIV rebound in ART-free macaques.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 31113957.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-019-09725-6 and PMC identifier 6529452.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
A major barrier to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) cure is the existence of viral reservoirs that lead to viral rebound following discontinuation of antiretroviral therapy (ART). We postulate that enhancing cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) targeting conserved envelope (Env) regions can eliminate HIV infected cells in latency. Here, we evaluate the use of adoptively transferred HIV vaccine-induced subtype C Env-specific CTLs in a macaque subtype B simian-human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV) model to determine whether plasma viremia can be controlled after ART interruption. We demonstrate that adoptive cellular therapy (ACT) using autologous Env-specific T cells augmented by therapeutic vaccination can suppress ART-free viral rebound in the SHIV model. Furthermore, phenotypic and functional characterization of adoptively transferred cells in ACT-responsive and nonresponsive animals support a critical role for cross-reactive central memory T cells in viremia control. Our study offers an approach to potentiate immunological suppression of HIV in the absence of antiviral drugs.