ART Plus Combination Immunotherapy Expands Natural Killer Cells That Facilitate Control of HIV

Yerkes National Primate Research Center researchers in collaboration with Institut Pasteur have determined a combination immunotherapy of Interleukin-21 (IL-21) and interferon alpha (IFNα) is effective in generating highly functional natural killer (NK) cells that can help control and reduce simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) in animal models. This finding is key for controlling HIV/AIDS, which impacts 38 million people worldwide, as antiviral therapy (ART) alone, while capable of reducing viremia to undetectable levels, is not curative and is hampered by issues such as cost, adherence, and social stigma. The results of this study were published in Nature Communications.

In most animal models, infection with SIV progress to AIDS and generates natural killer (NK) cells with impaired functionality, unlike in animal models of SIV that do not progress to AIDS (Huot et al., Nat Commun, 2021).

In the study, which is published online today in Nature Communications, researchers worked with 16 animal models that were receiving suppressive ART. The researchers compared the ability of animal models that were also treated with IL-21 and IFNa to those that had not received the combination immunotherapy to evaluate how the ART plus combination immunotherapy affected the amount of virus in tissue. 

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