Studies on immunity in the male genital tract

The male genital tract is a major site of HIV acquisition and transmission. It is an obvious site for inducing immune responses to candidate HIV vaccines, to prevent infection or halt the spread of the virus. There are relatively few published studies characterising T cells in the male genital tract. A challenge that hampers studies at this mucosal surface is obtaining samples with sufficient immune cells. Therefore, the first aim of this study was to establish an optimised method to isolate immune cells from the male genital tract. Cellular activation and inflammation in the genital tract have important implications for both transmission and acquisition of HIV, since they provide target cells for viral replication. Thus, the second and third aim of this study was to investigate mucosal T cell activation and inflammatory cytokine profiles in semen in HIV?infected and uninfected men, and compare the immune milieu of the genital tract with the systemic compartment.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Division of Virology

Year dc:date.issued

2011

Author dc:creator

• Olivier, Abraham Jacobus

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Burgers, Wendy

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/11234

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/11234