ABSTRACT

The exceptional group of ECs has been of great help, and will continue to provide invaluable insight with regard to reach a potential functional cure of HIV. However, there is no consensus on the immune correlates associated to this EC phenotype which preclude reaching a potential functional cure of HIV. The existing literature studying this population of individuals has indeed revealed that they are a very heterogeneous group regarding virological, immunological, and even clinical characteristics, and that among ECs only a very small proportion are homogeneous in terms of maintaining virological and immunological control in the long term (the so-called long-term elite controllers, LTECs). Thus, it is of pivotal relevance to identify the LTECs subjects and use them as the right model to redefine immune correlates of a truly functional cure. This review summarizes the evidence of the heterogeneity of HIV elite controllers (ECs) subjects in terms of virological, immunological and clinical outcomes, and the implications of this phenomenon to adequately consider this EC phenotype as the right model of a functional cure.

摘要

杰出的EC小组提供了极大的帮助，并将继续提供宝贵的见解，以实现潜在的HIV功能治愈。然而，关于与该EC表型相关的免疫相关性尚未达成共识，从而无法达到HIV的潜在功能治愈。研究该人群的现有文献确实显示，它们在病毒学，免疫学甚至临床特征方面是非常不同的群体，并且从长远来看，在EC中，从长期保持病毒学和免疫学控制的角度来看，它们是同质的。术语（所谓的长期精英控制器LTEC）。因此，确定LTECs受试者并将其用作重新定义真正功能性治疗的免疫相关性的正确模型至关重要。