Gut commensal microbes do not represent a dominant antigenic source for continuous CD4(+) T-cell activation during HIV-1 infection

作者：Zimmermann Kathrin; Bastidas Sonia; Knecht Leandra; Kuster Herbert; Vavricka Stephan R; Guenthard Huldrych F; Oxenius Annette^*

来源：European Journal of Immunology, 2015, 45(11): 3107-3113.

DOI：10.1002/eji.201545940

• Gut microbe-specific CD4(+) T-cell responses
• IBD and HIV-1 associated enteropathy
• Microbial translocation
• Systemic immune activation

Chronic immune activation is a hallmark of HIV-1 infection; specifically, the activation of T cells has predictive value for progression to AIDS. The majority of hyperactivated T cells are not HIV-specific and their antigenic specificities remain poorly understood. Translocation of gut luminal microbial products to systemic sites contributes to chronic immune activation during HIV-1 infection, but how it affects (TCR-dependent) immune activation remains elusive. We hypothesized that gut luminal antigens foster activation of CD4(+) T cells with specificities for commensal bacterial antigens, thereby contributing to the pool of activated CD4(+) T cells in the circulation of HIV-1 infected individuals. To test this hypothesis, we quantified the frequencies of gut microbe-specific CD4(+) T cells by cytokine production upon restimulation with selected gut commensal microbial antigens. Contrary to our hypothesis, we did not observe increased but rather decreased frequencies of gut microbe-specific CD4(+) T cells in HIV-1 infected individuals compared to healthy controls. We conclude that the increased activation status of circulating CD4(+) T cells in HIV-1 infected individuals is not driven by CD4(+) T cells with specificities for commensal bacterial antigens.

• 出版日期2015-11
• 单位河北医科大学