The emerging role of leukocyte immunoglobulin-like receptors (LILRs) in HIV-1 infection

LILRs represent a group of immunomodulatory mole-cules that regulate the functional properties of profes-sional APCs and influence immune activation in a vari-ety of disease contexts. Many members of the LILR family recognize peptide/MHC class I complexes as their physiological ligands, and increasing evidence suggests that such interactions are prominently influ-enced by polymorphisms in HLA class I alleles or se-quence variations in the presented antigenic peptides. Emerging data show that LILRs are involved in multiple, different aspects of HIV-1 disease pathogenesis and may critically influence spontaneous HIV-1 disease pro-gression. Here, we review recent progress in under-standing the role of LILR during HIV-1 infection by fo-cusing on the dynamic interplay between LILR and HLA class I molecules in determining HIV-1 disease progres-sion, the effects of HIV-1 mutational escape on LILR-mediated immune recognition, the contribution of LILR to HIV-1-associated immune dysfunction, and the unique expression patterns of LILR on circulating my-eloid DCs from elite controllers, a small subset of HIV-1-infected patients with natural control of HIV-1 replica-tion. Obtaining a more complete understanding of LILR-mediated immune regulation during HIV-1 infection may ultimately allow for improved strategies to treat or pre-vent HIV-1-associated disease manifestations. J. Leu-koc. Biol. 91: 000–000; 2012