Figure 5.

Proposed mechanism of ENV-C reactivation of latent HIV reservoirs and their killing by ADCC mediating lysis by NK cells. (A) Sorted resting memory cells and sorted CD4/CD8 depleted effector cells were cultured at 1:1 ratio and stimulated with HIV ENV C peptides. (B) Dendritic cells specifically present MHC II bound antigenic peptide to HIV specific CD4 T cells via T cell receptor engagement. Activation of the T-cell receptor (TCR) induces multiple signal transduction pathways leading to the ordered nuclear migration of the HIV transcription initiation factors NF-κB and P-TEFb activate latent HIV proviruses through an ERK-dependent pathway. (C) HIV ENV C stimulation increased the frequency of p24 expressing CD4 cells indicating reversal of latency. (D) Addition of ADCC mediating antibodies mediate clearance reactivated latently infected cells by NK cells through ADCC. (E) The reduction in frequency of p24 expressing CD4 cells after addition of ADCC mediating antibodies indicates lysis of reactivated latently infected cells.