Souped-Up T Cells

T cells are alerted to the presence of HIV by the T-cell receptor (TCR), which recognises fragments of virus proteins displayed as warning flags on the surface of infected cells. Current methods to isolate specific T cells that recognise HIV rely on cloning cells from HIV patients - a slow and painstaking process - and often these cells have TCRs that only weakly detect virus-infected cells. The virus can also mutate to avoid being detected.

James Riley and colleagues used 'phage display' technology to isolate a TCR from T cells from an HIV infected patient, which identified a fragment of the virus particularly well. The team then engineered the TCR to be much better at finding the virus. Putting this TCR into T cells created killer cells that were better at restricting the spread of HIV in cell culture. It remains to be seen whether these T cells can control virus infection in animals or patients and therefore become a practical form of therapy.

Author contact:

James Riley (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA)
E-mail: rileyj@exchange.upenn.edu

Abstract available online.

(C) Nature Medicine press release.

Message posted by: Trevor M. D'Souza