TY  - JOUR
AU  - Willberg, CB
AU  - McConnell, JJ
AU  - Eriksson, EM
AU  - Bragg, LA
AU  - York, VA
AU  - Liegler, TJ
AU  - Hecht, FM
AU  - Grant, RM
AU  - Nixon, DF
Y2  - 2020/12/21
Y1  - 2008/10
SN  - 1553-7366
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/11343/257121
AB  - Unprotected sexual intercourse between individuals who are both infected with HIV-1 can lead to exposure to their partner's virus, and potentially to super-infection. However, the immunological consequences of continued exposure to HIV-1 by individuals already infected, has to our knowledge never been reported. We measured T cell responses in 49 HIV-1 infected individuals who were on antiretroviral therapy with suppressed viral loads. All the individuals were in a long-term sexual partnership with another HIV-1 infected individual, who was either also on HAART and suppressing their viral loads, or viremic (>9000 copies/ml). T cell responses to HIV-1 epitopes were measured directly ex-vivo by the IFN-gamma enzyme linked immuno-spot assay and by cytokine flow cytometry. Sexual exposure data was generated from questionnaires given to both individuals within each partnership. Individuals who continued to have regular sexual contact with a HIV-1 infected viremic partner had significantly higher frequencies of HIV-1-specific T cell responses, compared to individuals with aviremic partners. Strikingly, the magnitude of the HIV-1-specific T cell response correlated strongly with the level and route of exposure. Responses consisted of both CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cell subsets. Longitudinally, decreases in exposure were mirrored by a lower T cell response. However, no evidence for systemic super-infection was found in any of the individuals. Continued sexual exposure to exogenous HIV-1 was associated with increased HIV-1-specific T cell responses, in the absence of systemic super-infection, and correlated with the level and type of exposure.
LA  - eng
PB  - Public Library of Science (PLoS)
T1  - Immunity to HIV-1 is influenced by continued natural exposure to exogenous virus.
DO  - 10.1371/journal.ppat.1000185
IS  - PLoS Pathogens
VL  - 4
IS  - 10
SP  - e1000185-
L1  - /bitstream/handle/11343/257121/PMC2562513.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
ER  -