Cutting edge: Rapid recovery of NKT cells upon institution of highly active antiretroviral therapy for HIV-1 infection |
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Authors: | van der Vliet Hans J J van Vonderen Marit G A Molling Johan W Bontkes Hetty J Reijm Martine Reiss Peter van Agtmael Michiel A Danner Sven A van den Eertwegh Alfons J M von Blomberg B Mary E Scheper Rik J |
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Institution: | Department of Internal Medicine, Vrije Universiteit Medical Centre, De Boelelaan 1117, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands. jj.vandervliet@vumc.nl |
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Abstract: | CD1d-restricted NKT cells play important regulatory roles in various immune responses and are rapidly and selectively depleted upon infection with HIV-1. The cause of this selective depletion is incompletely understood, although it is in part due to the high susceptibility of CD4+ NKT cells to direct infection and subsequent cell death by HIV-1. Here, we demonstrate that highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) results in the rapid recovery of predominantly CD4(-) NKT cells with kinetics that are strikingly similar to those of mainstream T cells. As it is well known that the early recovery of mainstream T cells in response to HAART is due to their redistribution from tissues to the circulation, our data suggest that the selective depletion of circulating NKT cells is likely due to a combination of cell death and tissue sequestration and indicates that HAART can improve immune functions by reconstituting both conventional T cells and immunoregulatory NKT cells. |
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