B Cell Follicles Shield HIV, According to UA Research Findings

Cover image for Frontiers in ImmunologyA review article published by the journal Frontiers in Immunology highlights recent research findings at the University of Arizona regarding the barriers to a cure for HIV that are posed by the B cell follicle.

Dr. Elizabeth ConnickIt is co-written by Matthew P. Bronniman, PhD, a UA postdoctoral research associate, and Elizabeth Connick, MD, a professor of medicine, chief of the UA Division of Infectious Diseases and a renowned physician-scientist whose basic immunology studies and clinical trials into immune therapies have helped better understand HIV and how to prevent infection and AIDS.

The findings in the article, “The B-Cell Follicle in HIV Infection: Barrier to a Cure,” include data from Drs. Bronniman and Connick's lab.

Dr. Pamela J. SkinnerAnother author on the article, Pamela J. Skinner, PhD, is a longtime collaborator of Dr. Connick’s who is on faculty at the University of Minnesota’s Institute for Molecular Virology and a member of the Host-Pathogen Interface Biology Cluster in the Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences at the UM College of Veterinary Medicine.

Figure 1 from article by Drs. Matthew Bronniman, Pamela Skinner and Liz ConnickFigure 1. A model showing the relative frequencies and localizations of various relevant T cell types discussed in this review. The relative susceptibility of CD4 subsets to HIV infection is indicated on each cell type (+ indicates somewhat susceptible, + + + indicates highly susceptible). EF CD4, extrafollicular CD4 T cells; TFH, T follicular helper cells; GC TFH, germinal center T follicular helper cells; TFR, T follicular regulatory cells; FDC, follicular dendritic cells, black stars represent extracellular HIV immune complexes.

ALSO SEE:
“UA Infectious Diseases Experts to Collaborate on National Effort to Develop HIV Cure” | Posted July 13, 2016
"New UA Chief of Infectious Diseases Has Long History of Novel Research into HIV, AIDS Prevention" | Posted Jan. 20, 2016

Release Date: 
11/02/2018 - 5:45pm