Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Jan 1.
Published in final edited form as: Annu Rev Med. 2009;60:471–484. doi: 10.1146/annurev.med.60.041807.123549

Figure 2. Functionally-defined T cell differentiation and HIV disease progression.

Figure 2

T cell stages can be defined either by phenotype (expression of cell surface markers such as CD45RA, CCR7, and CD28), or by function (expression of cytokines, chemokines, or other activities immediately following antigenic stimulation). Clinically-defined correlates of progression in HIV disease have been associated with T cell functions: better clinical outcome is associated with a prevalence of polyfunctional T cells. These cells are highly optimized for effector function by expressing multiple functions simultaneously as well as expressing high levels of cytokines on a per-cell basis. In contrast, there is little correlation between clinical outcome and the phenotype of antigen-specific cells, likely because of the broad overlaps between phenotypically-defined subsets and function.