Excerpt from Annual Report of Intramural Activities: October 1, 1991-September 30, 1992
Scientists developed two diagnostic assays to detect hiv infection in children born to hiv-infected mothers. One measures viral antigen and the other measures iga immunoglobulin in infants, allowing doctors to identify infected children within the first few months of life, and thereby enabling technicians to institute antiviral therapy.
Using mice experiments, researchers have identified several regions in the gp120 and pol proteins of hiv-1 that bind to mhg class I or class II molecules and shown that these regions also are the targets for T cell recognition by human T cells. Without the formation and recognition of the peptide-mhg complexes, the T cell immune system is blind to the hiv-1 and cannot eliminate infected cells or make antibodies that would reduce the spread of the infection in the body. Understanding the recognition of viral proteins by T cells is essential to the effective design of prophylactic and therapeutic vaccine strategies for the control of aids.
Using an immunodeficient mouse into which normal human fetal thymus tissue is implanted, scientists are studying how the thymus is involved in hiv infection. Scientist are finding that immature T cells in the thymus can be infected with hiv. Also the cells which provide the nurturing growth signals to developing T cells appear to be affected by hiv infection. This disruption of thymus gland function, then, may contribute to the depletion of CD4+ T cells seen in patients and the dysfunctionn of the immune systemof which T cells are so great a part. By understanding how hiv interrupts the normal growth and development of the immune cells in the bone marrow and thymus, scientists can gain insight int the development of therapies to prevent or counteract this immune destruction. Studies evaluating the alteration of immune function through hiv effects on bone marrow, thymus and cytokine signalling will provide knowledge about the changing immune system which will affect the design of specific vaccines for maintaining good anti-hiv immune function.
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