Understanding and exploiting dendritic cells in human immunodeficiency virus infection using the nonhuman primate model

Dendritic cells (DC) are pivotal cells in the innate immune system. Recent interest in the role of DC in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) pathogenesis has increased with the finding that both myeloid (mDC) and plasmacytoid DC (pDC) are lost from blood during infection, associated with progression to disease. DC are also being studied intensively for their capacity to stimulate robust virus-specific immunity as vaccines. Here we discuss our work in these contrasting fields of DC biology using the rhesus macaque nonhuman primate model. We focus on studies of DC dynamics in lymphoid tissues during pathogenic simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infection, DC trafficking in health and disease, DC-based vaccination and the use of autologous virus as antigen for stimulation of virus-specific T cells.