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Updated: May 7, 2026

Assessing the Innate Sensing of HIV-1 Infected CD4+ T Cells by Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells Using an Ex vivo Co-culture System.
Published on: September 1, 2015
Emerging role of the host restriction factor tetherin in viral immune sensing
Dominik Hotter1, Daniel Sauter, Frank Kirchhoff
1Institute of Molecular Virology, Ulm University Medical Center, 89081 Ulm, Germany.
Abstract:
Tetherin (BST-2, CD317) is an interferon-inducible cellular factor that inhibits the release of diverse enveloped viruses by tethering them to the cell surface. Its importance in antiviral immunity is underscored by the observation that various viruses have evolved antagonists against this restriction factor. Accumulating evidence suggests that this is not only due to its ability to inhibit virus release but that tetherin also acts as an innate immune sensor of viral infections that activates NF-κB to induce an inflammatory response. Furthermore, tetherin modulates immune activation through interactions with the immunoglobulin-like transcript 7 (ILT7, LILRA4). This surface receptor is specifically expressed on plasmacytoid dendritic cells, which are the main producers of type I interferons in response to viral infections. Here, we summarize some of our current knowledge about the role of tetherin as a viral immune sensor and discuss how the accessory HIV-1 (human immunodeficiency virus type 1) Vpu protein counteracts this effect.
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