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.
Lakshmanan
Viswanathan
V
aNew York University School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA bPartners AIDS Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA.
Alter
Galit
G
Altfeld
Marcus
M
Bhardwaj
Nina
N