Differential gene expression in CD8+ cells exhibiting noncytotoxic anti-HIV activity.

Suppressive subtractive hybridization with polymerase chain reaction was used to identify the gene(s) associated with the CD8+ cell noncytotoxic anti-HIV response. The differences in gene expression profiles of CD8+ cells from a pair of discordant HIV-positive identical twins were studied. Forty-nine genes were identified as expressed at higher levels in the CD8+ cells from the infected twin that inhibited viral replication. The differential expression of these genes was then evaluated using Q-PCR to determine if this gene expression pattern is evident in CD8+ cells from other HIV-positive subjects showing this antiviral activity. Three genes, including one unknown, were found to have significantly increased expression in antiviral CD8+ cells.