Human immunodeficiency virus glycoprotein-specific CD4+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes are involved in two types of cytotoxicity: antigen-specific and cell-cell fusion-related cell lysis.
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) glycoprotein-specific CD4+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) lyse target cells in an MHC-restricted calcium-dependent fashion similar to the mechanism used by CD8+ CTLs. However, contact of unprimed peripheral blood CD4+ T cells with HIV glycoprotein-expressing cells has been shown to cause, in addition to cell-cell fusion, rapid cytolysis that may resemble antigen-specific cytotoxicity in the chromium release assay. In this study, the ability of glycoprotein-specific CD4+ CTLs to undergo similar fusion-related cytolysis was examined. The data obtained demonstrate that in addition to antigen-specific calcium-dependent cytotoxicity, envelope-specific CD4+ CTLs are involved in fusion-related, calcium-independent cytolysis.
Ehret
R
R
Institute for Virology and Immunobiology, Julius-Maximilians University, Würzburg, Germany.
Heinkelein
M
M
Siliciano
R F
RF
Jassoy
C
C
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D002459:Cell Fusion; D002460:Cell Line; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; D004533:Egtazic Acid / Q000494:pharmacology; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120 / Q000276:immunology / Q000494:pharmacology; D019302:HIV Envelope Protein gp160 / Q000276:immunology; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology*; D014616:Vaccinia virus
D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120; D019302:HIV Envelope Protein gp160; D004533:Egtazic Acid; D002118:Calcium