RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Virus-specific T cells are critical components in the containment of immunodeficiency virus infections. While the protective role of CD8+ T cells is well established by studies of CD8+ T cell-mediated viral escape, it remains unknown if CD4+ T cells can also impose sufficient selective pressure on replicating virus to drive the emergence of high-frequency escape variants. Identifying a high frequency CD4+ T cell driven escape mutation would provide compelling evidence of direct immunological pressure mediated by these cells. RESULTS: Here, we studied a SIVmac239-infected elite controller rhesus macaque with a 1,000-fold spontaneous increase in plasma viral load that preceded disease progression and death from AIDS-related complications. We sequenced the viral genome pre- and post-breakthrough and demonstrate that CD8+ T cells drove the majority of the amino acid substitutions outside of Env. However, within a region of Gag p27CA targeted only by CD4+ T cells, we identified a unique post-breakthrough mutation, Gag D205E, which abrogated CD4+ T cell recognition. Further, we demonstrate that the Gag p27CA-specific CD4+ T cells exhibited cytolytic activity and that SIV bearing the Gag D205E mutation escapes this CD4+ T cell effector function ex vivo. CONCLUSIONS: Cumulatively, these results confirm the importance of virus specific CD8+ T cells and demonstrate that CD4+ T cells can also exert significant selective pressure on immunodeficiency viruses in vivo during low-level viral replication. These results also suggest that further studies of CD4+ T cell escape should focus on cases of elite control with spontaneous viral breakthrough.
Assuntos
Linfócitos T CD4-Positivos/imunologia , Genoma Viral , Evasão da Resposta Imune/genética , Mutação , Síndrome de Imunodeficiência Adquirida dos Símios/imunologia , Vírus da Imunodeficiência Símia/genética , Viremia/imunologia , Replicação Viral/genética , Sequência de Aminoácidos , Substituição de Aminoácidos , Animais , Linfócitos T CD4-Positivos/virologia , Linfócitos T CD8-Positivos/imunologia , Linfócitos T CD8-Positivos/virologia , Epitopos de Linfócito T/genética , Epitopos de Linfócito T/imunologia , Produtos do Gene gag/genética , Macaca mulatta , Dados de Sequência Molecular , Síndrome de Imunodeficiência Adquirida dos Símios/patologia , Síndrome de Imunodeficiência Adquirida dos Símios/virologia , Vírus da Imunodeficiência Símia/imunologia , Vírus da Imunodeficiência Símia/patogenicidade , Carga Viral , Viremia/patologia , Viremia/virologiaRESUMO
Current assays of CD8+ T-lymphocyte function measure cytokine production rather than the ability of these lymphocytes to suppress viral replication. Here we show that CD8+ T-cell clones recognizing the same epitope vary enormously in the ability to suppress simian immunodeficiency virus SIVmac239 replication in an in vitro suppression assay. However, all Nef(165-173)IW9- and Vif(66-73)HW8-specific clones from elite controllers effectively suppressed SIV replication. Interestingly, in vitro suppression efficacy was not always associated with the ability to produce gamma interferon, tumor necrosis factor alpha, or interleukin-2.
