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Use of Interferon-γ Enzyme-linked Immunospot Assay to Characterize Novel T-cell Epitopes of Human Papillomavirus
Published on: March 8, 2012
Preferential Reservoir Seeding in HPV16-Specific CD4-T-Cells During HIV-1 Acute and Chronic Infection
Amay Shah1, Carlo Sacdalan2,3, Robert Gorelick4
1Mucosal and Cutaneous Viral Immunopathogenesis Unit, National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA.
Abstract:
The anal canal represents the primary site of HIV-1 acquisition in men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM), while MSM-living-with-HIV (MLWH) have the highest anal cancer incidence. Since HPV16-infection and low-nadir CD4-T-cell counts predict anal cancer risk, we developed an assay to identify and characterize HPV16-specific T-cell responses in MLWH. 40% of acutely and 81% of chronically infected MLWH had HPV16-specific CD4-T-cells, which harbored higher levels of HIV-1 DNA/RNA than non-HPV16-specific CD4-T-cells. T-cell-receptor (TCR) sequencing revealed a less diverse and more restricted TCR-repertoire in HPV16-specific CD4-T-cells. HPV16-specific CD4-T-cells represent an early-established preferential HIV-1 reservoir and a potential novel immunologic correlate of anal cancer-risk in MLWH.
