# Peripheral and tissue-resident gamm/delta T cells in HIV latency

> **NIH NIH R01** · GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $578,185

## Abstract

Project Summary
 Identification and description of all cellular reservoirs of persistent HIV infection is of crucial importance
to HIV eradication efforts. There is increasing evidence of the existence of additional latent reservoirs in the
peripheral blood, and also within the tissue where a substantial fraction of the total lymphocytes of the body are
located. We have discovered that a subclass of γδ T cells that express the Vδ2 TCR chain, harbor latent but
replication-competent HIV. Furthermore, we have described a mechanism to explain Vδ2 cell infection,
showing that although these cells generally express extremely low levels of the CD4 receptor, they can
upregulate the CD4 receptor following stimuli in vitro. We have confirmed this finding by the discovery that
acutely HIV-infected patients studied less than three weeks after infection, are found to have substantial
expression of the CD4 receptor on Vδ2 cells.
 We propose to validate and clarify the importance of this new latent HIV reservoir within γδ T cells by i)
extending our studies to include the complementary Vδ1 TCR γδ T cell population, as we find significant levels
of HIV DNA within this second γδ T cell population, ii) studying infection and latency within γδ T cells in the gut
associated lymphoid tissue (GALT), lymphoid tissues (LT) and liver, given the predominance of γδ T cells
within these tissues, iii) analyze the stability and durability of latency within the γδ T cell reservoir, and iv)
explore therapeutic approaches to disrupt latency within γδ T cells. Our investigations will contribute critically to
the effort to define and eradicate HIV infection within all persistent, latently infected cells.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9966850
- **Project number:** 5R01AI125097-06
- **Recipient organization:** GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Natalia Soriano-Sarabia
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $578,185
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-07-05 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9966850

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9966850, Peripheral and tissue-resident gamm/delta T cells in HIV latency (5R01AI125097-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9966850. Licensed CC0.

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