Studying the effects of HIV infection on human antibody responses
Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) has killed more than 25 million people since 1981 and more than 30 million people are now infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS. HIV infects and kills a type of immune system cell called CD4+ T lymphocytes. These cells are needed to maintain a vigorous immune response, so people infected with HIV eventually become susceptible to other infections and develop full blown AIDS. However, early during HIV infection, other parts of the immune system attempt to fight off the virus. Soon after infection, immune system cells called B lymphocytes begin to produce HIV-specific antibodies (proteins that recognize viral molecules called antigens). The first antibodies to HIV usually appear two to seven weeks after infection; from about 12 weeks after infection, antibodies are made that can kill the specific HIV type responsible for the infection (neutralizing antibodies).
Unfortunately, by this time, it is too late for the antibody (‘‘humoral’’) immune response to clear HIV from the body. Indeed, the humoral immune response to HIV is very slow; for most viruses, neutralizing antibodies appear within days of infection. To help them design an effective HIV vaccine, scientists need to understand how the virus delays humoral responses to HIV infection (and how it later causes the production of HIVspecific antibodies to decline). Little is known, however, about the early effects of HIV infection on B lymphocytes. These cells are born and mature in the bone marrow. ‘‘Naive’’ B lymphocytes, each of which carries an antigen-specific receptor (a protein that binds to a specific antigen), then enter the blood and circulate around the body, passing through the ‘‘peripheral lymphoid organs’’. Exposure to antigens in these organs, which include lymph nodes and gut-associated lymphoid tissues, activates the subset of B lymphocytes that recognize the specific antigens that are present. Finally, with the help of activated T lymphocytes, the activated B lymphocytes proliferate and change (differentiate) into antibody-secreting cells and memory B lymphocytes (which respond more quickly to antigen than naive B lymphocytes). In this study, the researchers investigate the effects of early HIV-1 infection on B lymphocytes in blood and in gut-associated lymphoid tissues.
Although the depletion of gut-associated CD4+ T lymphocytes in early HIV-1 infection is well known, these new results demonstrate the effects of early HIV-1 infection on gut-associated and circulating B lymphocytes. The results of this study are limited by the methods used to analyze the antibodies induced by HIV infection and by only taking tissue samples from one region of the gut. Nevertheless, the findings of polyclonal B-cell activation and damage to gut-associated lymphoid follicles soon after HIV-1 infection may have implications for HIV-1 vaccine design. Specifically, these findings suggest that an effective HIV-1 vaccine will need to ensure that significant levels of neutralizing antibodies are present in people before HIV-1 infection and that other protective immune defenses are fully primed so that, in the event of HIV-1 infection, the virus can be dealt with effectively before it disables any part of the immune system.
Polyclonal B Cell Differentiation and Loss of Gastrointestinal Tract Germinal Centers in the Earliest Stages of HIV-1 Infection. PLoS Med 6(7): e1000107. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000107
The antibody response to HIV-1 does not appear in the plasma until approximately 2–5 weeks after transmission, and neutralizing antibodies to autologous HIV-1 generally do not become detectable until 12 weeks or more after transmission. Moreover, levels of HIV-1–specific antibodies decline on antiretroviral treatment. The mechanisms of this delay in the appearance of anti-HIV-1 antibodies and of their subsequent rapid decline are not known. While the effect of HIV-1 on depletion of gut CD4+ T cells in acute HIV-1 infection is well described, we studied blood and tissue B cells soon after infection to determine the effect of early HIV-1 on these cells. In human participants, we analyzed B cells in blood as early as 17 days after HIV-1 infection, and in terminal ileum inductive and effector microenvironments beginning at 47 days after infection. We found that HIV-1 infection rapidly induced polyclonal activation and terminal differentiation of B cells in blood and in gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) B cells. The specificities of antibodies produced by GALT memory B cells in acute HIV-1 infection (AHI) included not only HIV-1–specific antibodies, but also influenza-specific and autoreactive antibodies, indicating very early onset of HIV-1–induced polyclonal B cell activation. Follicular damage or germinal center loss in terminal ileum Peyer’s patches was seen with 88% of follicles exhibiting B or T cell apoptosis and follicular lysis. Early induction of polyclonal B cell differentiation, coupled with follicular damage and germinal center loss soon after HIV-1 infection, may explain both the high rate of decline in HIV-1–induced antibody responses and the delay in plasma antibody responses to HIV-1.
Related:
- Antibodies against persistent viruses
- Re-awakening old genes to help in the fight against viruses
- HIV is evolving rapidly to escape the immune system
Tags: antibodies, Biology, Health, HIV/AIDS, Immunology, Medicine, Microbiology, Science, Virology, virus
