About
We obtained recent evidence that CD4+ T cells of HIV Controllers preferentially express a particular set of shared T cell receptors (TCRs) directed to the HIV capsid. We will monitor the dynamics of these shared TCR sequences in progressor patients, through a longitudinal analysis from the acute to the chronic stage of HIV infection. This will help determine whether the dominant public TCRs are exclusive to Controllers, or whether they are selected and then rapidly lost in progressor patients. The long-term goal will be to determine whether these shared TCR sequences can be used as molecular markers of efficient anti-HIV CD4+ T cell responses, and to devise clonotype-specific primer sets that could be used in the immunomonitoring of HIV vaccination trials.