%0 Journal Article
%T Immunotherapy with internally inactivated virus loaded dendritic cells boosts cellular immunity but does not affect feline immunodeficiency virus infection course
%A Giulia Freer
%A Donatella Matteucci
%A Paola Mazzetti
%A Francesca Tarabella
%A Enrica Ricci
%A Leonia Bozzacco
%A Antonio Merico
%A Mauro Pistello
%A Luca Ceccherini-Nelli
%A Mauro Bendinelli
%J Retrovirology
%D 2008
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1742-4690-5-33
%X Cell-mediated immune responses involving polyfunctional CD8+ and CD4+ T cells are considered pivotal in the control of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 infection [1]. Dendritic cells (DCs) are the only antigen-presenting cells that are able to present exogenous antigens to both helper and cytotoxic T cells; in order to do so, DCs must undergo maturation after antigen uptake, a process that can be started by cytokines and microbial products like lipopolysaccharide (LPS) [2,3]. Early clinical trials exploring autologous DCs that were loaded with antigens ex vivo to induce T-cell responses have provided proof of principle that DCs might be exploited in the therapy and/or prevention of various types of disease [4]. Recently, DCs have been also tested in the immunotherapy of HIV-1 and simian immunodeficiency virus infections [5,6]; in particular, Lu and colleagues have reported that stimulating the immune system with autologous monocyte-derived DCs pulsed with AT2-inactivated whole HIV-1 is beneficial in the treatment of chronic HIV-1 infection [5].FIV is a non-primate lentivirus that has long been studied as a model for HIV [7]. The infection it establishes in cats closely resembles human AIDS, causing progressive immune deficiency and allowing it to be considered one of the best models to test different strategies against HIV-1. We have recently tested vaccination of cats with autologous MDCs loaded with AT2-inactivated FIV and matured with LPS (FIV-MDCs): such an approach elicited very high proliferative responses against FIV and detectable antibody responses [8]. However, such vaccination did not result in reduced infection of cats upon viral challenge. Because memory T cells have different requirements and may behave differently from na£żve T cells upon activation [9], the present study was carried out to assess whether a similar approach might boost memory immune responses against FIV and lead to changes in immunological and virological parameters in chronically
%U http://www.retrovirology.com/content/5/1/33