Journal of Clinical and Cellular Immunology
Open Access
ISSN: 2155-9899
ISSN: 2155-9899
AKM Nurur Rahman, Keira Clayton, Shariq Mujib, Ignatius W. Fong and Mario A. Ostrowski
The chronic nature of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 (HIV) infection leads to the functional exhaustion of HIV specific CD8+ T cells. Although multiple markers of exhaustion have been identified so far, the recently discovered T cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain 3 (TIM-3) molecules distinguishes bona fide exhausted T cells with replicative senescence and functional impairment. TIM-3 is expressed on T helper type 1 (TH1) and T cytotoxic type 1 (TC1) T cells during chronic HIV infection and once ligated to its ligand transmits negative signaling to arrest T cell function. This negative effect of TIM-3 ligation could be exploited to our advantage as a therapeutic approach to treat HIV-infected individuals. In addition to exhaustion, altered TIM-3 expression has been implicated in autoimmunity and tolerance abrogation.