Objective
Infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is eventually fatal in the absence of antiretroviral therapy. However, approximately 0.3% of patients have the ability to efficiently control the virus for long periods without treatment (elite controllers). It has been shown that HLA class I restricted CD8+ T cells play a crucial role in this process. There is a strong genetic association between the ability to control the virus and certain alleles of the HLA-B complex (particularly HLA-B*27 and B*57). However, there is also a subset of patients that control HIV in absence of these so-called “protective” alleles, but this mechanism of protection is unclear. Even more strikingly, the recent VISCONTI study showed induction of control in the absence of protective alleles in some patients that received very early therapy (post treatment controllers). Based on these observations, the aim of this study is to determine functional characteristics of CD8+ T cells in elite controllers without protective alleles. T cells and T cell clones of those patients will be functionally phenotyped using in vitro assays and mass cytometry, a very recent technology allowing single cell analysis of up to 37 markers simultaneously. Furthermore, this study will analyze whether elite controllers without protective HLA-B alleles engage additional mechanisms that support functional T cell responses. In particular, the recently described immunoregulatory role of NK cells and the consequences of innate-adaptive crosstalk for immune control of HIV-1 will be assessed.
Results from these studies will provide important new insights into the mechanisms that support protective CD8+ T cell responses against HIV, even in absence of protective HLA alleles. The knowledge of how CD8+ T cells achieve efficient control of the disease will be important for designing T cell based HIV vaccines or immunotherapies that also protect individuals with a susceptible genetic background.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology virology
- medical and health sciences health sciences infectious diseases RNA viruses HIV
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy pharmaceutical drugs vaccines
- medical and health sciences basic medicine immunology immunotherapy
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IOF
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
20251 Hamburg
Germany
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.