Biology of plasmacytoid dendritic cells and natural killer cells in HIV-1 infection.
OBJECTIVE
This review summarizes recent literature on the biology of dendritic cells and natural killer cells in HIV-1 infection and the importance of crosstalk between them in the development of strong antiviral immunity.


RESULTS
Type I interferons produced by dendritic cells in response to HIV-1 have been suggested to act as a double-edged sword, stemming HIV-1 replication on the one hand and causing T-cell loss on the other. Recent epidemiologic evidence demonstrates a strong association between the natural killer cell receptor KIR3DS1 (along with its presumed ligand HLA-B Bw4-80I) in the control of HIV-1 replication.


CONCLUSIONS
Dendritic and natural killer cells play a central role in the innate immune response to viral infections through both the direct elimination of infected cells and modulation of each other's function.
aNew York University School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA bPartners AIDS Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA.
Viswanathan
V
Lakshmanan
Galit
G
Alter
Marcus
M
Altfeld
Nina
N
Bhardwaj