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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Mar 20.
Published in final edited form as: Semin Immunol. 2009 Dec 4;22(2):87–96. doi: 10.1016/j.smim.2009.11.001

Figure 3.

Figure 3

Two primary mechanisms of HIV evasion against NKT cells. A: HIV directly infects CD4+ NKT cells in the same manner as conventional CD4+ T cells, via attachment of the gp120/gp41 envelope complex to the CD4 receptor, causing direct NKT cell lysis and/or activation-induced cell death. B: HIV can directly infect dendritic cells (DCs) through binding of DC-Sign or other C-type lectins on the DC surface. The HIV nef gene downregulates CD1d surface expression on the DC surface, impairing the ability for these antigen presenting cells (APCs) to bind glycolipids and activate NKT cells through binding of their invariant T cell receptor (invTCR) by the CD1d/glycolipid complex.