Nat Med: antibody therapy can enhance T cell immune response in HIV infected people

February 7, 2020 / Biovalley BIOON / - -- most HIV infected people control the virus by taking antiretroviral drugs (Art) Despite the effectiveness of the drug, the presence of a latent HIV Library in the body means that these patients need life-long treatment Studies have shown that the combination of two anti HIV immunotherapies, like art drugs, can also inhibit HIV Now, in a new study, researchers from the hospital research center of the University of Montreal, Canada, Rockefeller University and Cologne University in Germany found that the use of these antibodies had an impact on the immune system of people living with HIV during the withdrawal of art drugs The related research results were published online in the journal Nature Medicine on February 3, 2020, and the title of the paper is "combination anti-HIV-1 antibody therapy is associated with increased virus specific T cell immunity" Scanning electron micrograph of HIV infected T cells from NIAID The researchers describe how injecting these powerful anti HIV antibodies, called neutralizing antibodies, is associated with increased T-cell responses that specifically recognize HIV T cells are important leukocytes that help control chronic infections such as HIV infection This study shows unexpected interactions and potential effects between two branches of the human immune system, humoral immunity (antibodies) and cellular immunity (T cells) Professor Daniel E Kaufmann, co-author of the paper and a researcher at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Center, said, "this is really a proof of concept In this study, we analyzed blood samples from participants in a clinical trial in which our collaborators used monoclonal antibodies produced in the laboratory to block the virus All participants maintained viral inhibition for at least 15 weeks after art drug discontinuation " He added, "we have observed what happens to other immune cells that target the virus In this study, we recorded an increased T-cell immune response in nine HIV infected study participants But are these T cell responses more effective in controlling HIV than they were before intervention? It has yet to be proved " In the phase 1b trial, two days before art treatment was stopped, nine HIV infected participants with antibody sensitive HIV received the first injection of two antibody mixtures The group recruited by the researchers received new antibody injections three and six weeks later Blood tests are carried out weekly to see if the virus bounces Using sophisticated cell analysis techniques, Julia niessl, the first author of the paper and doctoral student at Kaufmann laboratory, observed an increase in the activity levels of CD4 T cells and CD8 T cells that respond specifically to HIV during the withdrawal of art drugs and antibody therapy The effect of antibody is different from that of art They don't work passively In addition to blocking the virus, they "act" on the immune system and affect it "In the future, the antibody therapy will be studied in larger clinical trials of HIV prevention or treatment, because the antibody is well tolerated in humans and can effectively block the virus for several weeks," Kaufmann said According to the World Health Organization (who), by the end of 2018, about 37.9 million people were infected with HIV (BIOON Com) reference: 1 Julia niessl et al Combination anti-HIV-1 anti therapy is associated with increased virus specific T cell immunity Nature Medicine, 2020, doi:10.1038/s41591-019-0747-1 2.HIV antibody therapy is associated with enhanced immune responses in infected individuals https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-02-hiv-antibody-therapy-immune-responses.html