title: Polyfunctional analysis of Gag and Nef specific CD8+ T-cell responses in HIV-1 infected Indian individuals.
abstract: Polyfunctional CD8+ T-cells have been described as most competent in controlling viral replication. We studied the impact of antigen persistence on the polyfunctional immune responses of CD8+ T-lymphocytes to HIV Gag and Nef peptides and polyclonal stimuli in 40 ART naïve HIV infected individuals and analyzed the alterations in T-cell functionality in early and late stages of infection. Significantly elevated level of global response and polyfunctional profile of CD8+ T-cells were observed to polyclonal stimulation, than HIV specific antigens in chronically infected individuals. However no key differences were observed in CD8+ T-cell functional profile in any of the 15 unique subsets for Gag and Nef specific antigens. The subjects in early stage of infection (defined as a gap of 6 months or less between seroconversion and enrolment and with no apparent clinical symptoms) had a higher degree of response functionality (4+ or 3+ different functions simultaneously) than in the late stage infection (defined as time duration since seroconversion greater than 6 months). The data suggest that persistence of antigen during chronic infection leads to functional impairment of HIV specific responses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Sanjay
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mendiratta
authors.forename: Madhu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vajpayee
authors.forename: Kamalika
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mojumdar
authors.forename: Neeraj K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Chauhan
authors.forename: Vishnubhatla
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sreenivas
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D054301:gag Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus / Q000276:immunology*; D054311:nef Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D054301:gag Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus; D054311:nef Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus; C514837:nef protein, Human immunodeficiency virus 1