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Innate cellular immunity in the immunopathogenesis of HIV-1 infection in Uganda

HIV/AIDS has widespread effects in many developing countries and severely undermines efforts for sustainable development and poverty reduction. An effective vaccine remains a distant goal and increased efforts are necessary to understand the pathogenesis and potential immune correlates of protection against infection and disease progression. Additionally, it is incumbent upon researchers to build capacity in immunology in those resource limited countries most affected by HIV-1 and other infectious diseases. In this project, we will work towards these goals by investigating our preliminary findings concerning: (1) defects in natural killer (NK) cell responses in HIV infected Ugandans; (2) involvement of invariant NKT cells in the differential pathogenicity of HIV clade A and D infections; and (3) development of innate NK-like functions in CD8 T cells in HIV infected Ugandans. This is a collaborative effort between the Center for Infection Medicine at Karolinska Institutet and the Makerere University Walter Reed Project in Kampala, Uganda. The project involves an exchange of research visits between the MU and KI laboratories, and research training of a Ugandan PhD-student in the KI PhD program in Infection Biology. We anticipate that these investigations will significantly enhance our understanding of the role of innate cellular immunity in HIV-1 infection, and facilitate technology transfer and contribute strongly to research capacity building at the MU laboratories.

Project ID

SE-0-SE-29-2011-7293-285-13040

Activity status

2 - Implementation

Aid type

D02 - Other technical assistance

% to Uganda

100.00

Organisations

Funding

Sweden

Extending

The Swedish Research Council

Implementing

Karolinska Institutet

CRS code	%
STD control including HIV/AIDS (13040)	100.0