Total body CD4+ T cell dynamics in treated and untreated SIV infection revealed by in vivo imaging
Michele Di Mascio, Sharat Srinivasula, Insook Kim, Gorka Duralde, Alexis St. Claire, Paula DeGrange, Marisa St. Claire, Keith A. Reimann, Erin E. Gabriel, Jorge Carrasquillo, Richard C. Reba, Chang Paik, Henry C. Lane
Michele Di Mascio, Sharat Srinivasula, Insook Kim, Gorka Duralde, Alexis St. Claire, Paula DeGrange, Marisa St. Claire, Keith A. Reimann, Erin E. Gabriel, Jorge Carrasquillo, Richard C. Reba, Chang Paik, Henry C. Lane
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Research Article AIDS/HIV Immunology

Total body CD4+ T cell dynamics in treated and untreated SIV infection revealed by in vivo imaging

Abstract

The peripheral blood represents only a small fraction of the total number of lymphocytes in the body. To develop a more thorough understanding of T cell dynamics, including the effects of SIV/SHIV/HIV infection on immune cell depletion and immune reconstitution following combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), one needs to utilize approaches that allow direct visualization of lymphoid tissues. In the present study, noninvasive in vivo imaging of the CD4+ T cell pool has revealed that the timing of the CD4+ T cell pool reconstitution following initiation of ART in SIV-infected nonhuman primates (NHPs) appears seemingly stochastic among clusters of lymph nodes within the same host. At 4 weeks following initiation or interruption of cART, the changes observed in peripheral blood (PB) are primarily related to changes in the whole-body CD4 pool rather than changes in lymphocyte trafficking. Lymph node CD4 pools in long-term antiretroviral-treated and plasma viral load–suppressed hosts appear suboptimally reconstituted compared with healthy controls, while splenic CD4 pools appear similar between the 2 groups.

Authors

Michele Di Mascio, Sharat Srinivasula, Insook Kim, Gorka Duralde, Alexis St. Claire, Paula DeGrange, Marisa St. Claire, Keith A. Reimann, Erin E. Gabriel, Jorge Carrasquillo, Richard C. Reba, Chang Paik, Henry C. Lane

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Figure 2

Comparison between the CD4 pools of healthy, infected, untreated, and cART-treated animals.

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Comparison between the CD4 pools of healthy, infected, untreated, and cA...
CD4 pools in 3 groups of animals: uninfected healthy controls with PB CD4+ T cell count > 600 cells/μl (black), advanced SIV chronically infected animals with PB CD4+ T cell count < 300 cells/μl (blue), and SIV-infected long-term cART-treated (>5 months) nonhuman primates (red). Two animals in the group of SIV chronically infected animals were later treated with cART for more than 5 months: P246, who had 3 baseline scans during the chronic phase of infection (blue open circles) and before treatment (red open circle), and H755, who had 2 baseline scans during the chronic phase of infection (blue diamond with center dot) and was then reimaged after long-term treatment (red diamond with center dot). Another animal, P773, had 2 baseline scans during the chronic phase of infection (blue hexagon). Ax, axillary; Ing, inguinal; LN, lymph node; Sub, submandibular.