Cytokine Network and Sexual HIV Transmission in Men Who Have Sex With Men.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Seminal HIV transmission from men to their partners remains the main driver of HIV epidemics worldwide. Semen is not merely a carrier of virus but provides an immunological milieu that affects HIV transmission. METHODS:We collected blood and semen from people with HIV (PWH) whose epidemiologically-linked sexual partners became HIV infected or did not acquire HIV. Viral transmission was confirmed by phylogenetic linkage (HIV pol). We measured the concentration of 34 cytokines/chemokines by Luminex in blood and semen of 21 source partners who transmit ('transmitters') and 22 who did not transmit HIV ('non-transmitters') to their sexual partners. Differences between cytokine profiles in transmitters versus non-transmitters were analyzed using the multivariate statistical technique Partial Least Square-Discriminant Analysis. RESULTS:The cytokine profile in seminal, but not in the peripheral blood, was significantly different between men who have sex wirth men (MSM) who transmitted and those who did not transmit HIV to their sexual partners (E=19.77, p<0.01). This difference persisted after excluding people with undetectable HIV RNA levels in non-transmitters. CONCLUSIONS:Seminal cytokine profiles correlated with transmission or non-transmission of HIV from the infected MSM to their partners, independently from seminal viral load. Seminal cytokine spectra might be a contributing determinant of sexual HIV transmission thus providing new directions for the development of strategies aiming at preventing HIV transmission.

SUBMITTER: Vanpouille C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7744977 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature