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Functional signatures in antiviral T-cell immunity for monitoring virus-associated diseases

Nature Reviews Immunology volume 6, pages 417–423 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

At present, we only have indirect knowledge of the protective role of antigen-specific T cells in human viral infections, and it has been difficult to show a direct correlation between quantitative and qualitative measures of T-cell immunity and virus-associated diseases. However, as described in this Opinion article, recent advances in the characterization of T-cell functions and in the development of standardized T-cell assays have led to the identification of distinct functional signatures of T-cell responses that correlate with levels of viral replication and disease activity.

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Figure 1: Models of viral infection based on antigen load and exposure.
Figure 2: Functional signatures of virus-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses dictated by antigen load.
Figure 3: Application of functional signatures of virus-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells to clinical monitoring of virus-associated disease activity.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by research grants from the Swiss National Science Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Division of Immunology and Allergy, Department of Medicine, Laboratory of AIDS Immunopathogenesis, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, 1011, Switzerland

    Giuseppe Pantaleo & Alexandre Harari

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  1. Giuseppe Pantaleo
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Correspondence to Giuseppe Pantaleo.

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Pantaleo, G., Harari, A. Functional signatures in antiviral T-cell immunity for monitoring virus-associated diseases. Nat Rev Immunol 6, 417–423 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nri1840

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