The potential role of epitope-specific T-cell receptor diversity in the control of HIV replication.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this review is to assess the influence of T-cell receptor clonotype diversity on the recognition and control of chronic viral infections, and specifically in the case of HIV infection.


RESULTS
The latest publications have examined the role of T-cell receptor repertoires specific for dominant epitopes in the ability to recognize variants and control viremia in chronic viral infections. In the hepatitis C virus and SIV models, diverse T-cell receptor repertoires appear to limit immune escape. In HIV infection, circulating clonotypes may have different functional abilities, showing another potential advantage of diverse clonotypic repertoires. A recent study suggests that at times narrow repertoires against a conserved epitope may be effective, perhaps through the ability to cross-recognize potential epitope variants.


CONCLUSIONS
The studies discussed in this review have identified T-cell receptor diversity as an important factor for understanding the immune recognition of highly variable viruses. Further studies are needed to determine whether T-cell receptor repertoire analysis of HIV epitope-specific immune responses will provide a more accurate correlate for the control of viremia than conventional immune function assays.
aDepartment of Microbiology and Immunology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA bInfectious Diseases Unit, Department of Internal Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Brenna C
BC
Simons
Spyros A
SA
Kalams