Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

The human immunodeficieny virus (HIV) has been responsible for an estimated 25 million deaths worldwide and despite nearly a quarter century of research a vaccine remains elusive. Some individuals remain HIV-uninfected despite multiple exposures to the virus (exposed uninfected or EU). Understanding why they appear to be resistant to HIV may inform the rational design of a preventive vaccine for HIV. Natural killer (NK) cells act early in viral infections; they are able to kill virally-infected cells and release soluble factors with anti-viral function. NK cell activation and anti-viral potency depends on the integration of signals received from cell surface receptors. One family of NK receptors is the killer immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) that recognize the presence or absence of HLA alleles. KIR receptors are products of a genetic region that codes for up to 15 receptor types. In this project we will compare the KIR genetic region and HLA alleles of EUs and a population of HIV susceptible individuals in order to assess whether there are patterns of expression of these genes that could account for resistance or susceptibility to HIV infection. Information arising from this project would be relevant to vaccine design by providing a rationale for manipulating NK activity at the time of vaccination to favor the development of immunity that is effective at preventing HIV infection.