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Updated: Apr 28, 2026

Preparation and Use of HIV-1 Infected Primary CD4+ T-Cells as Target Cells in Natural Killer Cell Cytotoxic Assays
Published on: March 14, 2011
HLA Class I restricted CD8+ and Class II restricted CD4+ T cells are implicated in the pathogenesis of nevirapine
Niamh M Keane1, Rebecca K Pavlos, Elizabeth McKinnon
1aInstitute for Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Murdoch University bDepartment of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Princess Margaret Hospital for Children cSchool of Paediatrics & Child Health dSchool of Medicine & Pharmacology and School of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia eVanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. *Niamh M. Keane and Rebecca K. Parlos contributed equally to this study.
Objectives:
This study sought to examine nevirapine hypersensitivity (NVP HSR) phenotypes and their relationship with differing major histocompatibility complex (MHC) Class I and Class II alleles and the associated CD4 and CD8 T-cell NVP-specific responses and their durability over time.
Methods:
A retrospective cohort study compared HIV-positive patients with NVP HSR, defined by fever and hepatitis and/or rash, with those tolerant of NVP for more than 3 months. Covariates included class I (HLA-A, B, C) and class II (HLA-DR) alleles. Cellular studies examined NVP-specific CD4 and CD8 T-cell responses by interferon-gamma (IFNγ) ELISpot assay and intracellular cytokine staining (ICS).
Results:
NVP HSR occurred in 19 out of 451 (4%) NVP-exposed individuals between March 1993 and December 2011. HLA associations were phenotype dependent with HLA-DRB1*01 : 01 associated with hepatitis (P = 0.02); HLA-B*35 : 01 and HLA-Cw4 associated with cutaneous NVP HSR (P = 0.001, P = 0.01), and HLA-Cw*08 was associated with NVP HSR with eosinophilia (P = 0.04) and multisystemic NVP HSR (P = 0.02). NVP-specific INFγ responses waned significantly more than 3 months from the original reaction and were diminished or completely abrogated when either CD4 or CD8 T cells were depleted from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells culture.
Conclusion:
The association of specific class I and II allele pairings with specific phenotypes of NVP HSR, and cellular studies showing both CD4 and CD8 T-cell NVP-specific responses suggest that specific combinations of NVP reactive class I restricted CD8 and class II restricted CD4 T cells contribute to the immunopathogenesis of NVP HSR.
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