Grant: Operating Grant - Priority Announcement: Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative

Natural killer (NK) cells are a key player in innate immunity to viruses such as HIV. NK cells can recognize virus infected cells very early after infection. They do so through cell surface receptors that recognize a cell surface molecule called HLA present on most cells in the body, including those that HIV enters in a new infection. The NK receptors and HLA molecules have many variants that differ from one person to another and influence the potency of NK cell activation when these cells see a virus infected target. Our previous work identified variants of NK receptors and HLA that are present more frequently in people who remain uninfected despite exposure to HIV (exposed uninfected or EU subjects) than in HIV susceptible individuals. There results led us to hypothesize that expressing the kind in NK receptor associated with protection from infection leads to activation of NK cells to either more readily kill HIV infected cells or prevent HIV from replicating and spreading. In this project we will study the anti-viral functions of NK cells from individuals carrying NK receptor HLA combinations associated with protection from HIV infection compared to that from subjects not carrying these combination. Understanding how EUs are protected from infection is important because it may provide clues on how to manipulate the immune system in the context of vaccines to reduce the risk of HIV infection.