Short communication: characteristics of effective immune control of simian/human immunodeficiency virus in pigtail...

Considerable evidence suggests both HIV-specific T cells and neutralizing antibodies (nAb) can, separately, assist control of viremia. T cell and nAb responses were studied in detail in three pigtail macaques protected from chronic simian/human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV) viremia by DNA prime/fowlpoxvirus boost vaccine regimens. Immunity was studied both after an initial intrarectal SHIV challenge, as well as during CD8 T cell depletion and a subsequent intravenous SHIV rechallenge. Remarkably, SHIV-specific CD4 and CD8 T cells were detectable in the absence of viremia following an initial SHIV challenge in one animal, subsequent to recovery from CD8 T cell depletion in all three animals, and following control of heterologous SHIV rechallenge in two animals. Neutralizing antibodies were also enhanced following CD8 depletion without recrudescence of viremia in all three animals. These observations, although in a small subset of animals, suggest the hypothesis that combinations of primed T cell immunity and neutralizing antibodies can maintain control of chronic primate lentiviral infections.