Abstract
HIV-specific T cells that produce interferon-γ (IFN-γ) are present in the genital tract of HIV-infected women although these do not provide protection against genital HIV shedding. Because polyfunctional HIV-specific T cells have been implicated in better HIV control than those with a single function, this study aimed to investigate whether polyfunctional T cells were present at the female genital mucosa. Cervical cytobrush-derived T cells were obtained from chronically HIV-infected women and compared with blood. CD3(+) T cells from both compartments were expanded with Dynal anti-CD3/CD28 expander beads for 14 days and flow cytometry was used to evaluate four T-cell functions (CD107a, IFN-γ, tumour necrosis factor-α and macrophage inflammatory protein-1β) from 16 women. The majority of Gag-specific T-cell responses in the female genital tract were monofunctional, although low frequencies of HIV Gag-specific polyfunctional CD8(+) T cells were detected at the cervix in 81·3% (13/16) of women. The ability of CD8(+) T cells at both the cervix and in blood to express CD107a and to exhibit polyfunctional responses (two or more functions) following Gag stimulation was inversely associated with plasma viral load and positively associated with blood CD4 counts, suggesting that clinical status impacted on the functionality of HIV-specific T cells at the mucosa, in a similar way to blood. HIV Gag-specific cervical T cells were largely monofunctional. Polyfunctional T cells were detected at the cervix in women with high blood CD4 count and low plasma viral load but these did not protect from HIV genital shedding.