Simian immunodeficiency virus infects follicular helper CD4 T cells in lymphoid tissues during pathogenic infection of pigtail macaques

Abstract

T follicular helper (Tfh) cells are a specialized subset of memory CD4+ T cells that are found exclusively within the germinal centers of secondary lymphoid tissues and are important for adaptive antibody responses and B cell memory. Tfh cells do not express CCR5, the primary entry coreceptor for both human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), and therefore, we hypothesized that these cells would avoid infection. We studied lymph nodes and spleens from pigtail macaques infected with pathogenic strain SIVmac239 or SIVmac251, to investigate the susceptibility of Tfh cells to SIV infection. Pigtail macaque PD-1high CD127low memory CD4+ T cells have a ph..