Peak viremia HIV-specific CD8+ T cells reduce viral reservoirs

In a paper published Wednesday, researchers identified a subset of HIV-specific CD8+ T cells that were fully differentiated only at peak viremia and were able to kill HIV-producing cells and reduce HIV reservoir seeding. Science Translational Medicine published the paper, whose authors included researchers from the U.S. Military HIV Research Program (MHRP) of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.

The authors said that during peak viremia, or acute HIV infection (AHI) stage 3, the differentiated T cells were associated with a "steeper" viral load decrease after antiretrovial therapy (ART) initiation compared with HIV-specific CD8+ T cells during AHI stages 1 and 2. The researchers said those cells had higher survival capacity and memory potential during the early stages compared to stage 3 cells, but lacked effector functions and were less effective in controlling HIV replication...