The emerging role of innate immunity in protection against HIV-1 infection

The brain-specific factor FEZ1 is a determinant of neuronal susceptibility to HIV-1 infection

“…The discovery of restriction factors such as TRIMs and APOBECs, whose sole function to date appears to be to inhibit virus replication (28), along with antiviral factors, whose presence or absence within the host cell alters virus replication (14,(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37) have highlighted the complexity of mechanisms that govern cellular susceptibility to retroviral infection. Many of these factors are expressed in a wide range of tissues and their expression is increased in response to IFN, suggesting that they function as part of the hosts' antiviral response mechanism (28,29). In contrast, here we show that FEZ1 expression is limited not just to brain cells, but to specific brain cell types that are naturally resistant to HIV-1 infection.…”

“…Both type I and type II IFNs are known for their antiviral activity as an innate immune response to viral infections (26,27). It has recently been shown that the HIV-1 restriction factors APOBEC3G, TRIM5␣ and tetherin can be regulated by interferons (28,29), suggesting that they function as part of the cellular antiviral response. CHME3 cells were treated with increasing concentrations of IFN-␣ or IFN-␥ and the levels of FEZ1 were determined by qPCR, as described above.…”

HIV induced suppression of host immunity: relevance to <i>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</i> infections

“…In HIV infection, the frequency of γδ T cells is decreased and show impaired production of cytokine like IFN-γ and TNF-α [157,158]. Though, the findings are contradictory [159,160], but the immense potential of γδ T cells are always appreciated. Another subset, NKT cells represent a subset of T cells with a distinct lineage, not restricted by MHC and can be divided into diverse/variant and invariant NKT cells [161].…”

Induction of innate immunity in control of mucosal transmission of HIV

“…The mechanism of this protection is poorly defined. Possible explanations are protective effects of the mucosal barriers, such as the mucosal structural integrity, production of mucus and low pH, limited target cell availability, and the presence of large numbers of innate immune cells and secreted factors may account for the anti-HIV activity [11] (Fig. 1).…”

“…Dendritic cells, particularly CD103, expressing dendritic cell isolated from mesenteric lymph nodes (MLNs) and Peyer' patches, but not from spleen, were capable of converting retinol to retinoic acid, a key mediator stimulating Tregs, effector T and B cells to express mucosal homing receptors CCR9 and a4b7 [14]. Microbial HSP70 or 65 exert both systemic and mucosal adjuvanticity when administered with HIV antigens, inducing dendritic cell maturation, production of CC-chemokines and gd T cells [11].…”