Cutting edge: Rapid recovery of NKT cells upon institution of highly active antiretroviral therapy for HIV-1 infection.
CD1d-restricted NKT cells play important regulatory roles in various immune responses and are rapidly and selectively depleted upon infection with HIV-1. The cause of this selective depletion is incompletely understood, although it is in part due to the high susceptibility of CD4+ NKT cells to direct infection and subsequent cell death by HIV-1. Here, we demonstrate that highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) results in the rapid recovery of predominantly CD4(-) NKT cells with kinetics that are strikingly similar to those of mainstream T cells. As it is well known that the early recovery of mainstream T cells in response to HAART is due to their redistribution from tissues to the circulation, our data suggest that the selective depletion of circulating NKT cells is likely due to a combination of cell death and tissue sequestration and indicates that HAART can improve immune functions by reconstituting both conventional T cells and immunoregulatory NKT cells.
van der Vliet
Hans J J
HJ
Department of Internal Medicine, Vrije Universiteit Medical Centre, De Boelelaan 1117, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands. jj.vandervliet@vumc.nl
van Vonderen
Marit G A
MG
Molling
Johan W
JW
Bontkes
Hetty J
HJ
Reijm
Martine
M
Reiss
Peter
P
van Agtmael
Michiel A
MA
Danner
Sven A
SA
van den Eertwegh
Alfons J M
AJ
von Blomberg
B Mary E
BM
Scheper
Rik J
RJ
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D023241:Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active; D015704:CD4 Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology*; D015497:HIV-1; D006801:Humans; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology*
D015704:CD4 Antigens