Cytolytic CD4⁺ T cells in viral immunity

Abstract

It is generally believed that the role of CD4⁺ T cells is to coordinate the different arms of the adaptive immune system to shape an effective response against a pathogen and regulate nonessential or deleterious activities. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that effector CD4⁺ T cells can directly display potent antiviral activity themselves. The presence of cytolytic CD4⁺ T cells has been demonstrated in the immune response to numerous viral infections in both humans and in animal models and it is likely that they play a critical role in the control of viral replication in vivo. This article describes the current research on virus-specific cytolytic CD4⁺ T cells, with a focus on HIV-1 infection and the implications that this immune response has for vaccine design.

Keywords::

• cytolytic CD4⁺ T cells
• HIV
• vaccines
• viral infection

Financial & competing interests disclosure

Hendrik Streeck is funded by NIH grant 1R01AI091450-01 and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.