BACKGROUND AND AIMS Hepatitis C Virus (HCV)-related liver disease progresses more rapidly in individuals co-infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 (HIV), although the underlying immunologic mechanisms are unknown. We examined whether HIV-specific T-cells are identified in the liver of HCV/HIV co-infected individuals and promote liver inflammation through bystander immune responses. METH...

The immunology of vertical HIV transmission differs from that of adult infection in that the immune system of the infant is not fully matured, and the factors that influence the functionality of CD8(+) T cell responses against HIV in children remain largely undefined. We have investigated CD8(+) T cell responses in 65 pediatric subjects with vertically acquired HIV-1 infection. Vigorous, broad,...

Diagnosis of acute HIV infection is important for accurate estimation of HIV incidence, identifying persons who are unaware of their HIV infection, and offering immediate treatment and risk-reduction strategies. The higher viral loads associated with acute HIV infection are associated with an increased risk of transmission. Current treatment recommendations are the same for acute and establishe...

OBJECTIVE To characterize changes of Th1/Th2 cytokine production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) that occur during the course of HIV infection by cytoplasmic cytokine staining on single cell level. DESIGN AND METHODS Mitogen-stimulated PBMC from 16 healthy donors, 18 HIV-1-infected individuals without AIDS and 14 patients with AIDS were stained intracellularly with fluorescein-la...

Regulatory T cells represent a specialized subpopulation of T lymphocytes that may modulate spontaneous HIV-1 disease progression by suppressing immune activation or inhibiting antiviral T cell immune responses. While the effects of classical CD25(hi) FoxP3⁺ Treg during HIV-1 infection have been analyzed in a series of recent investigations, very little is known about the role of non-classical ...

Human memory and naive CD4 T cells can mainly be identified by the reciprocal expression of the CD45RO or CD45RA isoforms. In HIV-1 infection, blood CD45RO memory CD4 T cells are preferentially infected and serve as a major viral reservoir. The molecular mechanism dictating this differential susceptibility to HIV-1 remains largely obscure. Here, we report that the different susceptibility of me...

We previously showed that a gp41 peptide (3S) induces expression of a natural killer (NK) ligand (NKp44L) on CD4+ T cells during HIV-1 infection and that those cells are highly sensitive to NK lysis. In HIV-infected patients, anti-3S antibodies are associated with the maintenance of CD4+ T cell counts close to their baseline values, and CD4+ T cells decrease with the antibody titer. This study ...

Several studies have reported enhanced oxidative stress in patients with HIV infection. An important pathophysiologic consequence of increased oxidative stress is endogenous DNA damage, and the base excision repair pathway is the most important mechanism to withstand such deleterious effects. To investigate the role of base excision repair in HIV infection, we examined 7,8-dihydro-8-oxoguanine ...

HIV-1 is recognized to increase the risk for tuberculosis even before CD4+ T cell deficiency is profound. To better understand how HIV-1 alters immunity to latent tuberculosis, we compared the magnitude and functional profile of mycobacteria-specific CD4+ T cells between HIV-uninfected and HIV-infected individuals, using flow cytometry. In HIV-1 infection, IFN-γ single positive mycobacteria-spe...

Progressive quantitative and qualitative decline of CD4(+) T cell responses is one hallmark of HIV-1 infection and likely depends on several factors, including a possible contribution by the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein gp120, which binds with high affinity to the CD4 receptor. Besides virion-associated and cell-expressed gp120, considerable amounts of soluble gp120 are found in plasma or lympho...