Virtual memory CD8+ T cells restrain the viral reservoir in HIV-1-infected patients with antiretroviral therapy through derepressing KIR-mediated inhibition

The viral reservoir is the major hurdle in developing and establishing an HIV cure. Understanding factors affecting the size and decay of this reservoir is crucial for the development of therapeutic strategies. Recent work highlighted that CD8+ T cells are involved in the control of viral replicatio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cellular & molecular immunology 2020-12, Vol.17 (12), p.1257-1265
Main Authors: Jin, Jie-Hua, Huang, Hui-Huang, Zhou, Ming-Ju, Li, Jing, Hu, Wei, Huang, Lei, Xu, Zhe, Tu, Bo, Yang, Guang, Shi, Ming, Jiao, Yan-Mei, Fan, Xing, Song, Jin-Wen, Zhang, Ji-Yuan, Zhang, Chao, Wang, Fu-Sheng
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/250/254
631/250/255/1901
Antibodies
Antiretroviral drugs
Antiretroviral therapy
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
CD45RA antigen
CD8 antigen
Cytotoxicity
Deoxyribonucleic acid
DNA
Granzyme B
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus
Immunological memory
Immunology
Interferon
Interleukin 15
Lymphocytes
Lymphocytes T
Medical Microbiology
Memory cells
Microbiology
Perforin
Replication
Vaccine
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Summary:The viral reservoir is the major hurdle in developing and establishing an HIV cure. Understanding factors affecting the size and decay of this reservoir is crucial for the development of therapeutic strategies. Recent work highlighted that CD8+ T cells are involved in the control of viral replication in ART-treated HIV-1-infected individuals, but how CD8+ T cells sense and restrict the HIV reservoir are not fully understood. Here, we demonstrate that a population of unconventional CD45RA+, PanKIR+, and/or NKG2A+ virtual memory CD8+ T cells (T VM cells), which confer rapid and robust protective immunity against pathogens, plays an important role in restraining the HIV DNA reservoir in HIV-1-infected patients with effective ART. In patients undergoing ART, T VM cells negatively correlate with HIV DNA and positively correlate with circulating IFN-α2 and IL-15. Moreover, T VM cells constitutively express high levels of cytotoxic granule components, including granzyme B, perforin and granulysin, and demonstrate the capability to control HIV replication through both cytolytic and noncytolytic mechanisms. Furthermore, by using an ex vivo system, we showed that HIV reactivation is effectively suppressed by T VM cells through KIR-mediated recognition. This study suggests that T VM cells are a promising target to predict posttreatment virological control and to design immune-based interventions to reduce the reservoir size in ART-treated HIV-1-infected individuals.
ISSN:1672-7681
2042-0226
DOI:10.1038/s41423-020-0408-9