Stem Cell-Derived Viral Antigen-Specific T Cells Suppress HIV Replication and PD-1 Expression on CD4+ T Cells. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • The viral antigen (Ag)-specific CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) derived from pluripotent stem cells (PSCs), i.e., PSC-CTLs, have the ability to suppress the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. After adoptive transfer, PSC-CTLs can infiltrate into the local tissues to suppress HIV replication. Nevertheless, the mechanisms by which the viral Ag-specific PSC-CTLs elicit the antiviral response remain to be fully elucidated. In this study, we generated the functional HIV-1 Gag epitope SL9-specific CTLs from the induced PSC (iPSCs), i.e., iPSC-CTLs, and investigated the suppression of SL9-specific iPSC-CTLs on viral replication and the protection of CD4+ T cells. A chimeric HIV-1, i.e., EcoHIV, was used to produce HIV replication in mice. We show that adoptive transfer of SL9-specific iPSC-CTLs greatly suppressed EcoHIV replication in the peritoneal macrophages and spleen in the animal model. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the adoptive transfer significantly reduced expression of PD-1 on CD4+ T cells in the spleen and generated persistent anti-HIV memory T cells. These results indicate that stem cell-derived viral Ag-specific CTLs can robustly accumulate in the local tissues to suppress HIV replication and prevent CD4+ T cell exhaustion through reduction of PD-1 expression.

published proceedings

  • Viruses

author list (cited authors)

  • Haque, M., Lei, F., Xiong, X., Ren, Y., Peng, H., Wang, L., ... Song, J.

citation count

  • 2

complete list of authors

  • Haque, Mohammad||Lei, Fengyang||Xiong, Xiaofang||Ren, Yijie||Peng, Hao-Yun||Wang, Liqing||Kumar, Anil||Das, Jugal Kishore||Song, Jianxun

publication date

  • January 2021

publisher