Preferential Reservoir Seeding in HPV-16–Specific CD4 T Cells During HIV-1 Acute and Chronic Infection

Résumé fourni par la source

The anal canal represents the primary site of HIV-1 acquisition in men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM), while MSM-living-with-HIV (MLWH) have the highest anal cancer incidence. Since HPV16-infection and low-nadir CD4-T-cell counts predict anal cancer risk, we developed an assay to identify and characterize HPV16-specific T-cell responses in MLWH. 40% of acutely and 81% of chronically infected MLWH had HPV16-specific CD4-T-cells, which harbored higher levels of HIV-1 DNA/RNA than non-HPV16-specific CD4-T-cells. T-cell-receptor (TCR) sequencing revealed a less diverse and more restricted TCR-repertoire in HPV16-specific CD4-T-cells. HPV16-specific CD4-T-cells represent an early-established preferential HIV-1 reservoir and a potential novel immunologic correlate of anal cancer-risk in MLWH.

Ce résumé expose les affirmations des auteurs. BNTIC ne l’interprète pas comme une validation indépendante des résultats.