title: Human immunodeficiency virus gag and pol-specific CD8 T cells in perinatal HIV infection.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Binding of fluorochrome-conjugated MHC class I tetramers is a powerful means to detect antigen-specific CD8 T lymphocytes. In human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, cellular immune response is essential in curtailing HIV disease progression but gaps persist in our understanding of HIV-specific cells during the disease course. In this study, we evaluated tetramer binding HIV-specific CD8 T cells in HIV-infected children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fluorescently labeled tetramers for HIV gag and pol were utilized to quantify antigen-specific cells by flow cytometry using a whole blood labeling method in a cohort of 19 HLA-A2+ HIV-infected children (age range 1 month to 17 years).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fourteen children had detectable gag (median 0.4%) and pol (median 0.1%) binding CD8 T cells, three children had gag binding cells only, and two had neither. Numbers of gag and pol binding cells correlated with each other and each correlated independently with total CD8 T cells and total CD4 T cells.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  HIV gag and pol-specific CD8 T cells are maintained during the chronic phase of HIV infection in children and CD4 lymphocytes appear to be important for sustaining their levels.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, North Shore University Hospital / New York University School of Medicine, 350 Community Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030, USA.
authors.forename: T W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: McCloskey
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Haridas
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pahwa
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pahwa
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000818:Animals; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D018450:Disease Progression; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D015683:Gene Products, gag / Q000276:immunology*; D015684:Gene Products, pol / Q000276:immunology*; D015488:HIV Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology* / Q000502:physiology; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D010798:Phycocyanin / Q000378:metabolism; D011485:Protein Binding; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D019562:Viral Load
chemical_list: D015683:Gene Products, gag; D015684:Gene Products, pol; D015488:HIV Antigens; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I; C002497:allophycocyanin; D010798:Phycocyanin