Prospect of IL-2, IL-7, IL-15 and IL-21 for HIV immune-based therapy

Although highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) can effectively reduce the HIV replication, complete recovery of CD4(+) T cells does not always occur, even among patients with high virological control. Current researches on γ-chain cytokines have understood the biology and their crucial roles in initiating, maintaining, and regulating the immunologic homeostasis and the inflammatory processes. Due to the multiple functions such as the regulatory and effector cellular function in healthy and disease state, these molecules, their receptors, and their signal transduction pathways are promising candidates for therapeutic interference. The common γ-chain cytokines IL-2, IL-7, IL-15, and IL-21 are primary regulators of T cell homeostasis and thus have been considered prime immunotherapeutic candidates, both for increasing T cell levels/function and augmenting vaccine-elicited viral-specific T cell responses in immunocompromised AIDS patients. The Objective of this review is to update the role of the common γ-chain cytokines IL-2, IL-7, IL-15, and IL-21 in HIV AIDS pathogenesis.