NK cell function and antibodies mediating ADCC in HIV-1-infected viremic and controller patients

Abstract

Natural killer (NK) cells have been suggested to play a protective role in HIV disease progression. One potent effector mechanism of NK cells is antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) mediated by antiviral antibodies binding to the FcγRIIIa receptor (CD16) on NK cells. We investigated NK cell-mediated ADCC function and the presence of ADCC antibodies in plasma from 20 HIV-1-infected patients and 10 healthy donors. The HIV-positive patients were divided into two groups: six who controlled viremia for at least 8y without treatment (controllers), and 14 who were persistently viremic and not currently on treatment. Plasma from both patient groups induced NK cell IFN-γ expression and deg..