We are excited to announce the publication of a collaborative study, investigating one mechanism which is used by HIV to evade the immune system. This study, a product of our long-standing collaboration with Jimmy Dikeako’s lab at Western University, discovered that the HIV protein Nef sequesters a key component of the immune system (MHC I) inside the cell. MHC I normally acts to present small fragments of pathogens such as HIV to immune cells, thereby allowing the immune system to identify and remove infected cells. By sequestering MHC I inside of infected cells, HIV “blinds” the immune system to its presence, allowing its infection to go unchecked.
This study builds upon the two previous collaborative studies produced by the Heit and Dikeakos lab – our initial description of the interaction between Nef and host cell proteins, and our development of new analysis methods for super-resolution microscopy.
Dirk BS, Pawlak EN, Johnson AL, Van Nynatten LR, Jacob RA, Heit B, Dikeakos JD. HIV-1 Nef sequesters MHC-I intracellularly by targeting early stages of endocytosis and recycling. Scientific Reports. 2016 Nov 14;6:37021. [Pubmed] [Article]
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