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Biomedical engineers from the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, have discovered that HIV-infected patients experience a dysfunction in the follicular helper T (Tfh) cell.
Combining a sophisticated sequencing technique with a mass cytometry method they discovered the Tfh cell dysfunction. According to the latest figures from the World Health Organization, about 40 million people worldwide are living with HIV/AIDS.
The Tfh cells are present in greater numbers in HIV-infected patients than in healthy individuals, typically help fight off infection by communicating with other immune-supporting cells in the lymph nodes-the immune system’s command center about an impending viral attack. The researchers found that the Tfh cells present in those infected with HIV are not playing their usual part to defend against viral infections.
CD4+ T cell is depleted in patients infected with HIV, the population of Tfh cells is actually more elevated in the lymph nodes of those infected with HIV than it is in healthy individuals. Tfh cells in HIV patients are ineffective at sending signals to B cells to fight off the infection. Tfh cells behave differently when fighting chronic infections like HIV virus when fighting off acute infections like the common cold.
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