On May 8, 2007, PED Seminar Series Presents

The Cytotoxic T Lymphocyte Response to HIV-1 Infection

by Dr. Becca Asquith

The role of the cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response in HIV-1 infection is poorly understood. Here we develop an alternative method for quantifying the rate at which CTL kill HIV-infected cells in humans, in vivo. We show that: 1) CTL are only responsible for a minority of infected cell death 2) The rate of CTL killing declines as disease progresses 3) CTL killing in SIV-infected macaques is significantly different from CTL killing in HIV-infected humans giving rise to the worry that this much used animal model may be an over-optimistic model of CTL control.

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