title: Dissecting How CD4 T Cells Are Lost During HIV Infection.
abstract: Although the replicative life cycle of HIV within CD4 T cells is understood in molecular detail, less is known about how this human retrovirus promotes the loss of CD4 T lymphocytes. It is this cell death process that drives clinical progression to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Recent studies have highlighted how abortive infection of resting and thus nonpermissive CD4 T cells in lymphoid tissues triggers a lethal innate immune response against the incomplete DNA products generated by inefficient viral reverse transcription in these cells. Sensing of these DNA fragments results in pyroptosis, a highly inflammatory form of programmed cell death, that potentially further perpetuates chronic inflammation and immune activation. As discussed here, these studies cast CD4 T cell death during HIV infection in a different light. Further, they identify drug targets that may be exploited to both block CD4 T cell demise and the chronic inflammatory response generated during pyroptosis.
authors.affiliation: Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, 1650 Owens Street, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA. Electronic address: gilad.doitsh@gladstone.ucsf.edu.
authors.forename: Gilad
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Doitsh
authors.affiliation: Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, 1650 Owens Street, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA; Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA. Electronic address: wgreene@gladstone.ucsf.edu.
authors.forename: Warner C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Greene
mesh_terms: D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology* / Q000821:virology*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000378:metabolism; D006678:HIV / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007108:Immune Tolerance; D000069292:Pyroptosis
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral