Effective HIV control may depend on viral protein targeted by immune cells

An effective response of the immune system’s ‘killer’ T cells against infection with HIV may depend on exactly which viral protein is targeted, according to an international group of researchers. A new study finds that HIV-infected individuals in whom virus-specific CD8 T cells are targeted against the Gag protein have lower viral levels than do those with CD8 responses directed against other viral proteins. The report from the Partners AIDS Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital (PARC-MGH), the University of Oxford and University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa is receiving early online release in Nature Medicine.