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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Apr 1.
Published in final edited form as: Immunotherapy. 2013 Apr;5(4):407–414. doi: 10.2217/imt.13.23

Figure 1. Strategies to improve anti-HIV T cells.

Figure 1

T cells can be modified to more effectively target HIV infected cells by increasing the specificity to HIV antigens. This can be achieved by genetically modifying T cells with a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) or an artificial T cell receptor that may have extraordinarily high affinity to HIV epitopes. T cells can also be stimulated using peptides or mRNA for HIV antigens. HIV-specific T cells can be enriched for memory phenotypes prior to infusion which have more potential for persistence versus effector T cells. HIV entry can also be inhibited to protect the CD4 pool, allowing immune reconstitution as well as supporting CD8 T cell activity.