Development of a post-exposure paediatric anti HIV-AIDS vaccine based on the combined synthetic/recombinant HIV peptides and BCG for boosting innate and acquired immunity. North-South transfer in Biotechnology of Tuberculosis and AIDS. University of Rome “Tor Vergata”. UNESCO Interdisciplinary Chair in Biotechnology. Vittorio Colizzi, Luc Montagnier, 2004.

Differential requirements for antigen or homeostatic cytokines for proliferation and differentiation of human Vgamma9Vdelta2 naive, memory and effector T cell subsets.

We have compared four human subsets of Vgamma9Vdelta2 T cells, naive (T(naive), CD45RA(+)CD27(+)), central memory (T(CM), CD45RA(-)CD27(+)), effector memory (T(EM), CD45RA(-)CD27(-)) and terminally differentiated (T(EMRA), CD45RA(+)CD27(-)), for their capacity to proliferate and differentiate in response to antigen or homeostatic cytokines. Cytokine responsiveness and IL-15R expression were low in T(naive) cells and progressively increased from T(CM) to T(EM) and T(EMRA) cells. In contrast, the capacity to expand in response to antigen or cytokine stimulation showed a reciprocal pattern and was associated with resistance to cell death and Bcl-2 expression. Whereas antigen-stimulated cells a…