Evaluation of aDC1 dendritic cells for anti-HIV immunotherapy

• Grant number: 17/22131-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: March 01, 2018
• End date: February 29, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Medical Clinics
• Principal Investigator: Telma Miyuki Oshiro Sumida
• Grantee: Telma Miyuki Oshiro Sumida
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina (FM). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Alberto José da Silva Duarte ; Bruna Cunha Gondim de Alencar ; Robbie B. Mailliard

Abstract

Immunotherapy based on monocyte derived dendritic cells constitutes a promising strategy for the treatment of individuals infected with HIV. Protocols for obtaining conventional DCs use mediators of cell differentiation like IL4 and GMCSF that differentiate monocytes to immature DCs with myeloid cell characteristics. The stimulation with pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-alpha, IL-1beta and IL-6) activates DCs making them able to present antigens and initiate a specific immune response. Recently some authors have proposed the use of IFN type I and II, as well as TLR agonists to supplement stimulus for activation of the DCs. The DCs stimulated this way are called aDC1 and they represent an enormous capacity to produce high levels of IL-12 p70 leading to a potent Th1 response. The therapeutic potential of aDC1 was initially demonstrated in immunotherapy protocols for tumor patients and is recently developed for HIV-infected patients, using autologous apoptotic cells as a source of HIV antigens, in which only partial protection was demonstrated. During the last years our group was involved with clinical protocol of immunotherapy based on conventional DCs pulsed with chemically inactivated virus . In this context, in order to improve immunotherapy, our proposal is to evaluate in vitro the potential use of ±DC1 derived from HIV patients pulsed with chemically inactivated virus and stimulating a specific immune response to potentiate the use of this application as anti-HIV immunotherapy. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

REIS, EDIONE C.; DA SILVA, LAIS T.; DA SILVA, WANESSA C.; RIOS, ALEXANDRE; DUARTE, ALBERTO J.; OSHIRO, TELMA M.; CROVELLA, SERGIO; PONTILLO, ALESSANDRA. Host genetics contributes to the effectiveness of dendritic cell-based HIV immunotherapy. HUMAN VACCINES & IMMUNOTHERAPEUTICS, v. 14, n. 8, p. 1995-2002, 2018. (17/22131-0, 15/23395-6, 13/06142-1)