Rachel Rutishauser
@rrutishauser.bsky.social
Physician-scientist, immunologist. Associate Professor, UCSF Division of Experimental Medicine. Investigator, DARE HIV cure collaboratory. CD8 T cells, HIV, immune development. Posts mine. https://experimentalmedicine.ucsf.edu/laboratories/rutishauser-lab
yes— totally agree. All of the differences between infections are shaped by the complexities/unique features of the viruses and their in vivo activity. We have a lot more to learn … luckily for us, studying antiviral T cell responses is really fun! :)
December 3, 2025 at 3:02 PM
yes— totally agree. All of the differences between infections are shaped by the complexities/unique features of the viruses and their in vivo activity. We have a lot more to learn … luckily for us, studying antiviral T cell responses is really fun! :)
yes, we love this paper of yours! :) it makes a lot of sense
December 3, 2025 at 1:29 PM
yes, we love this paper of yours! :) it makes a lot of sense
Probably not surprisingly to you, amongst pre-existing HIV-specific CD8 T clonotypes during ART that recognize the same pMHC, after a T cell therapeutic vaccine or rebound, some expand much better than others. Lots of reasons why this could be, it’s something we are trying to understand better.
December 3, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Probably not surprisingly to you, amongst pre-existing HIV-specific CD8 T clonotypes during ART that recognize the same pMHC, after a T cell therapeutic vaccine or rebound, some expand much better than others. Lots of reasons why this could be, it’s something we are trying to understand better.
On ART, or even in elite controllers off of ART (in both case, who knows how much antigen they are seeing actively) - yes, sorted multimer responses are very oligoclonal (we have validated up to 8). If there is higher antigen exposure (eg a period off ART), the clonotypes may change.
December 3, 2025 at 1:28 PM
On ART, or even in elite controllers off of ART (in both case, who knows how much antigen they are seeing actively) - yes, sorted multimer responses are very oligoclonal (we have validated up to 8). If there is higher antigen exposure (eg a period off ART), the clonotypes may change.
gift link: www.sfchronicle.com/health/artic...
‘Is this my last pill ever?’ UCSF therapy offers patients a hint at a cure for HIV
Seven of 10 volunteers kept HIV at bay for months after stopping meds, a rare result scientists call a major step toward a functional cure.
www.sfchronicle.com
December 3, 2025 at 4:40 AM
gift link: www.sfchronicle.com/health/artic...
Hey Jeff! Yes this is a concern. I think the end goal isn’t necessarily to achieve low-level viremia or even “elite” control. Hopefully as we learn more about effective *in vivo* immune responses against HIV (which have been hard to ID) we can to do even better (ie target residual infected cells).
December 2, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Hey Jeff! Yes this is a concern. I think the end goal isn’t necessarily to achieve low-level viremia or even “elite” control. Hopefully as we learn more about effective *in vivo* immune responses against HIV (which have been hard to ID) we can to do even better (ie target residual infected cells).
Reposted by Rachel Rutishauser
11/ HIV is an extraordinarily challenging pathogen. Demonstrating that the immune system *can* be manipulated to improve control of HIV and identifying a correlate of that control in vivo in people is both important for the field and also gives us something concrete to build on.
December 2, 2025 at 6:50 AM
11/ HIV is an extraordinarily challenging pathogen. Demonstrating that the immune system *can* be manipulated to improve control of HIV and identifying a correlate of that control in vivo in people is both important for the field and also gives us something concrete to build on.
Reposted by Rachel Rutishauser
7/ @demisandel.bsky.social (1st PhD student in my lab!) made the key observation: early in rebound, before viral loads diverged, participants who went on to control HIV to low levels had a larger expansion of activated, cycling CD8+ T cells in the blood compared to those who did not control rebound.
December 2, 2025 at 6:50 AM
7/ @demisandel.bsky.social (1st PhD student in my lab!) made the key observation: early in rebound, before viral loads diverged, participants who went on to control HIV to low levels had a larger expansion of activated, cycling CD8+ T cells in the blood compared to those who did not control rebound.
14/ Today is World AIDS Day - a day to honor people who have died from complications of HIV, to be reminded of the progress that has been made towards ending the epidemic, to thank the activists, researchers, and policy-makers who have steered that progress, and to re-commit ourselves to the fight.
December 2, 2025 at 6:50 AM
14/ Today is World AIDS Day - a day to honor people who have died from complications of HIV, to be reminded of the progress that has been made towards ending the epidemic, to thank the activists, researchers, and policy-makers who have steered that progress, and to re-commit ourselves to the fight.
13/ The trial was funded by @amfarofficial.bsky.social and was designed with input from many members of the community of people living with HIV. It builds on decades of basic science and translational HIV research funded by the NIH @niaidnews.bsky.social.
December 2, 2025 at 6:50 AM
13/ The trial was funded by @amfarofficial.bsky.social and was designed with input from many members of the community of people living with HIV. It builds on decades of basic science and translational HIV research funded by the NIH @niaidnews.bsky.social.
12/ We are grateful for the commitment of our study participants, our amazing clinical team, our wonderful academic and industry colleagues (40 co-authors!), including many from the Divisions of Experimental Medicine and HIV/ID/Global Medicine @zsfgcare.bsky.social @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social.
December 2, 2025 at 6:50 AM
12/ We are grateful for the commitment of our study participants, our amazing clinical team, our wonderful academic and industry colleagues (40 co-authors!), including many from the Divisions of Experimental Medicine and HIV/ID/Global Medicine @zsfgcare.bsky.social @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social.
11/ HIV is an extraordinarily challenging pathogen. Demonstrating that the immune system *can* be manipulated to improve control of HIV and identifying a correlate of that control in vivo in people is both important for the field and also gives us something concrete to build on.
December 2, 2025 at 6:50 AM
11/ HIV is an extraordinarily challenging pathogen. Demonstrating that the immune system *can* be manipulated to improve control of HIV and identifying a correlate of that control in vivo in people is both important for the field and also gives us something concrete to build on.
10/ This was a small, single-arm, proof-of-concept study. The findings need to be replicated in other studies, several of which are enrolling now. Deeper investigations into the nature of the responding CD8+ T cells and the role of the bNAbs in potentiating host immune responses are ongoing.
December 2, 2025 at 6:50 AM
10/ This was a small, single-arm, proof-of-concept study. The findings need to be replicated in other studies, several of which are enrolling now. Deeper investigations into the nature of the responding CD8+ T cells and the role of the bNAbs in potentiating host immune responses are ongoing.
9/ We think this robust expansion of CD8+ T cells in response to HIV rebound is meaningful: rare individuals who spontaneously control HIV also have CD8+ T cells with high proliferative capacity, and robust CD8+ T cell proliferation is correlated with better outcomes after cancer immunotherapy.
December 2, 2025 at 6:50 AM
9/ We think this robust expansion of CD8+ T cells in response to HIV rebound is meaningful: rare individuals who spontaneously control HIV also have CD8+ T cells with high proliferative capacity, and robust CD8+ T cell proliferation is correlated with better outcomes after cancer immunotherapy.
8/ Just as the immune system encountered the emerging virus, controllers more robustly expanded a sub-population of activated CD8+ T cells with a progenitor/stem-like phenotype (TCF-1+PD-1+) as well as sub-populations with a cytotoxic effector phenotype (T-bet+Granzyme B+).
December 2, 2025 at 6:50 AM
8/ Just as the immune system encountered the emerging virus, controllers more robustly expanded a sub-population of activated CD8+ T cells with a progenitor/stem-like phenotype (TCF-1+PD-1+) as well as sub-populations with a cytotoxic effector phenotype (T-bet+Granzyme B+).
7/ @demisandel.bsky.social (1st PhD student in my lab!) made the key observation: early in rebound, before viral loads diverged, participants who went on to control HIV to low levels had a larger expansion of activated, cycling CD8+ T cells in the blood compared to those who did not control rebound.
December 2, 2025 at 6:50 AM
7/ @demisandel.bsky.social (1st PhD student in my lab!) made the key observation: early in rebound, before viral loads diverged, participants who went on to control HIV to low levels had a larger expansion of activated, cycling CD8+ T cells in the blood compared to those who did not control rebound.