Globotriaosylceramide (Gb3) is a resistance factor against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, but its expression has not been studied on human CD4+ T-cells. It was proposed that CD4+ T-cells may express Gb3 upon in vitro stimulation. To examine this, the optimal method for surface-expressed Gb3 detection was determined by comparing reagents, which showed that natural ligand (VT1B) and rat IgM monoclonal antibody (38-13) were the best methods. Using these, stimulated cells upregulated Gb3 in subsets of CD4+ T-cells, including T regulatory and NKT cell phenotypes, although the expression remained less than 2 percent of total cells. An enrichment method confirmed this. Examination of total Gb3 revealed that stimulated CD4+ T-cells without surface-expressed Gb3 did not express intracellular Gb3. Based on these results, it is concluded that CD4+ T-cells do not express Gb3 at significant levels under the conditions examined and, thus, may not have potential for resistance to HIV infection.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/30648 |
| Date | 08 December 2011 |
| Creators | Kim, Minji |
| Contributors | Donald, Branch R. |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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