<i>In vivo</i> detection of HIV-1 antisense transcripts in untreated and ART-treated individuals.

ABSTRACT: Natural antisense transcripts are expressed in eukaryotes, prokaryotes, and viruses and can possess regulatory functions at the transcriptional and/or post-transcriptional levels. In vitro studies have shown that HIV-1 antisense transcripts (AST) promote viral latency through epigenetic silencing of the proviral 5' long terminal repeat (LTR). However, expression of HIV-1 AST in vivo have not been convincingly demonstrated. Here, we used single RNA template amplification, detection, and sequencing to demonstrate expression of AST in unstimulated PBMC collected from people with HIV-1 (PWH). We found that AST had high genetic diversity that matched proviruses in cells from blood and lymph nodes. We measured a median of 26 copies of AST per 100 infected cells in PWH on ART and a

SUBMITTER: Capoferri AA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11908204 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature