Why did the HIV "controller" finally fall?

A small group of people called controllers can suppress HIV naturally without the need for medication

To a small group of people, the battle between the immune system and the virus looks completely different

In a paper recently published in the journal Immunity, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the RaGon MGH Institute at Harvard University reported that under these conditions, a type of immune cell called a cytotoxic T cell is lost.

To find these differences, the researchers, led by RaGon scholar Dr.

In a successful immune response, cytotoxic T cells recognize small pieces of HIV called antigens found on the surface of infected cells

First, the research team compared the types of antigens presented by the infected cells

The researchers next sequenced the HIV before and after losing control, looking for mutations that could cause changes in the antigens recognized by T cells

The research team took a closer look at the HIV-specific T cells in the two groups, focusing on the ability of the T cells to perform various functions

In advanced patients—HIV patients who cannot control the virus naturally and require drugs to suppress—T cells quickly become desensitized to HIV antigens and stop responding.

In people whose HIV is out of control, the proliferation and cytolytic capacity of T cells is significantly reduced in samples taken before the virus is out of control (sometimes even a few years ago)

Collins said: "In our study, proliferation loss is the most consistent predictor of control failure

In the analysis led by Ragon computational biologist and second author Dr.

"This study shows that loss of control is significantly different from the virus found in the typical immune response of HIV," said Dr.

This knowledge may eventually help researchers develop treatments and vaccines that can train the immune system of progressors

Original Search: David R.