A major goal of the Immunology Core is to provide relevant immunologic assays and reagents for basic and clinical investigations of HIV and AIDS. This Core furthers understanding of the immunopathogenesis and pathogenesis of HIV infection and AIDS, provides new approaches toward understanding cellular and humoral responses to HIV, determines the effects of different anti-retroviral regimens on reconstitution of immunologic responses in HIV-infected subjects, determines the effects of immunotherapy or gene therapy on reconstitution of immunologic responses or on altering the clinical course in HIV-infected subjects receiving antiretroviral therapy, and develops HIV vaccine strategies. The Immunology Core (IC) offers a wide range of services to benefit all CFAR members performing H/V-related immunological research. Our services can be subdivided into two major groups: Self and Full Service. The self-service section of the Core prepares validated reagents and materials that are widely used among the member labs of the CFAR. These services include purification of primary human blood cells and antibody production, purification, labeling and enzymatic digestion. During the course of this application, the IC will create HIV-specific tetramer reagents. In addition, training is available for culture and transfection of primary cells, ELISA, and ELISPOT assays. The Full Service section will perform standard immunological assays using AACTG and PACTG approved protocols on samples provided by CFAR members. In addition, a number of flow cytometry-based assays including phenotyping, intracellular cytokine measurements and live sorting of both infectious and non-infectious materials can be performed by highly experienced technicians using the state-of-art equipment.
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