HIV infection impacts the TFh response with evidence of aberrant TFh function observed in acute and chronic infection. Effective TFh responses are associated with the development of broadly neutralizing antibody responses to HIV and may be important for viral control.

Jan 30, 2017 · Effective TFh responses are associated with the development of broadly neutralizing antibody responses to HIV and may be important for viral control. In addition, TFh are preferentially infected and act as a key reservoir for latent HIV infection.

HIV Infection and Tfh cells. HIV infection is characterized by a progressive loss of CD4 T cells, and immune dysfunction that contribute to immunodeficiency and AIDS. Tfh cells have a central memory phenotype and express CCR5 that makes them …

During untreated disease, HIV replication is concentrated within T follicular helper cells (TFH). Heightened permissiveness, the presence of highly infectious virions on follicular dendritic cells (FDC), low frequencies of virus-specific cytotoxic T ...

The striking amount of somatic hypermutation in HIV bnAbs led to the hypothesis that T follicular helper (Tfh) cells and germinal centers (GC) play a critical role in the ability of the immune system to generate these uncommon antibodies.

In germinal centers, T follicular helper (TFH) cells provide important help to B-cell antibody production but also contribute to HIV persistence. T follicular regulatory (TFR) cells, which inhibit the function of TFH cells, express similar surface markers.

Jan 19, 2016 · In this issue of Immunity, Schultz et al. (2016) report that circulating IL-21-producing CD4 + T cells are phenotypically, transcriptionally, and functionally similar to lymphoid Tfh cells and that such HIV-specific Tfh cells were increased in RV144 trial vaccine recipients.

Nov 11, 2016 · Here, we review the impact of HIV infection on Tfh cell differentiation, from the priming of CD4 T cells by DCs cells until their ultimate stage of differentiation corresponding to GC Tfh and circulating memory Tfh.

In the setting of HIV and SIV infections, Tfh cells play a complex immunological and immunopathogenic role: they have been implicated in (1) development of HIV-specific B cell responses, including the production of broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) that typically require extensive hyper-mutation (Locci et al., 2013; Yamamoto et al., 2015 ...

Studies that target follicular virus reservoirs are needed to determine their role in HIV latency and to suggest successful cure strategies. Keywords: HIV-1, T follicular helper cells, follicular dendritic cell, latency.