Have Cells Harboring the HIV Reservoir Been Immunoedited?

Immunoediting is a well-established concept in oncology, describing the processes by which tumors are selected for resistance to immune-mediated elimination. The recent emergence of immunotherapies, such as checkpoint inhibitors, as pillars of cancer therapy has intensifed interest in immunoediting as a constraint limiting the efficacy of these therapies. Immunoediting manifests at a number of levels for different cancers, for example through the establishment of immunosuppressive microenvironments within solid tumors. Of particular interest to the current review, selection also occurs at the cellular level; and recent studies have revealed novel mechanisms by which tumor cells acquire intrinsic resistance to immune recognition and elimination. While the selection of escape mutations in viral epitopes by HIV-specific T-cells, which is a hallmark of chronic HIV infection, can be considered a form of immunoediting, few studies have considered the possibility that HIV-infected cells themselves may parallel tumors in having differential intrinsic susceptibilities to immune-mediated elimination. Such selection, on the level of an infected cell may not play a significant role in untreated HIV, where infection is propagated by high levels of cell-free virus produced by cells that quickly succumb to viral cytopathicity. However, it may play an unappreciated role in individuals treated with effective antiretroviral therapy where viral replication is abrogated. In this context an ‘HI...
Source: Frontiers in Immunology - Category: Allergy & Immunology Source Type: research