HIV As Trojan Exosome: Immunological Paradox Explained?

The HIV pandemic is still a major global challenge, despite the widespread availability of antiretroviral drugs. An effective vaccine would be the ideal approach to bringing the pandemic to an end. However, developing an effective HIV vaccine has proven to be an elusive goal. Three major human HIV v...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inFrontiers in immunology Vol. 8; p. 1715
Main Author Hildreth, James E K
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 01.12.2017
Subjects
antigen presentation
exosomes
HIV
HIV vaccines
immune modulation
Immunology
HIV vaccines
immune modulation
HIV
antigen presentation
exosomes
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Summary:The HIV pandemic is still a major global challenge, despite the widespread availability of antiretroviral drugs. An effective vaccine would be the ideal approach to bringing the pandemic to an end. However, developing an effective HIV vaccine has proven to be an elusive goal. Three major human HIV vaccine trials revealed a strong trend toward greater risk of infection among vaccine recipients versus controls. A similar observation was made in a macaque SIV vaccine study. The mechanism explaining this phenomenon is not known. Here, a model is presented that may explain the troubling results of vaccine studies and an immunological paradox of HIV pathogenesis: preferential infection of HIV-specific T cells. The central hypothesis of this perspective is that as "Trojan exosomes" HIV particles can directly activate HIV-specific T cells enhancing their susceptibility to infection. Understanding the biology of HIV as an exosome may provide insights that enable novel approaches to vaccine development.
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Edited by: Guido Poli, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Italy
Specialty section: This article was submitted to HIV and AIDS, a section of the journal Frontiers in Immunology
Reviewed by: Sarah Rowland-Jones, University of Oxford, United Kingdom; Antonella Caputo, Università degli Studi di Padova, Italy
ISSN:1664-3224
1664-3224
DOI:10.3389/fimmu.2017.01715