MAIT cells are depleted early but retain functional cytokine expression in HIV infection

Caroline S Fernandez; Thakshila Amarasena; Anthony D Kelleher; Jamie Rossjohn; James McCluskey; Dale I Godfrey; Stephen J Kent

Journal article

MAIT cells are depleted early but retain functional cytokine expression in HIV infection

Caroline S Fernandez, Thakshila Amarasena, Anthony D Kelleher, Jamie Rossjohn, James McCluskey, Dale I Godfrey, Stephen J Kent

Immunology and Cell Biology | NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP | Published : 2015

DOI: 10.1038/icb.2014.91

Abstract

Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells home to mucosal sites and exert antimicrobial activity against bacteria and other microorganisms. HIV infection leads to early depletion of gut T cells and translocation of bacterial products. There are reports that MAIT cells, defined by coexpression of Vα7.2 and CD161, are depleted during HIV infection and residual MAIT cells are functionally impaired. However, one study suggested that MAIT cells might remain after HIV infection but evade detection through CD161 downregulation. Thus, the impact of HIV infection on MAIT cells is unclear. We studied longitudinal blood samples from 31 HIV-infected subjects for MAIT cell numbers, phenotype and functi..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Dale Godfrey Author Microbiology and Immunology

Stephen Kent Author Microbiology and Immunology

James McCluskey Author

Jamie Rossjohn Author Microbiology and Immunology

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Awarded by Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)

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Funding Acknowledgements

We thank Drs Lars Kjer-Nielsen and Alexandra Corbett, University of Melbourne, for providing the new generation MR1 tetramers, MAIT ligands and MR1: C1R cells, and for sharing MAIT-cell activation methodologies. We thank Drs David Fairlie and Ligong Liu, Institute for Molecular Biology, University of Queensland for providing the MAIT cell ligands. We thank the doctors and nurses who recruited the subjects in the early HIV-infection cohort and the study subjects themselves. Supported by Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) awards 510448, 455350, 1013667, 454309 and 508309, NHMRC Research Fellowships to DIG and SJK and an NHMRC postgraduate scholarship (629002) to CSF.