Dataset Information

A unique viral reservoir landscape associated with durable natural control of HIV-1 infection [RNA-seq]

ABSTRACT: Sustained, drug-free control of HIV-1 replication is naturally achieved in less than 0.5% of infected persons (“elite controllers”, ECs), despite the presence of a replication-competent viral reservoir. Such an ability to spontaneously maintain undetectable plasma viremia is a major objective of functional cure efforts, yet the characteristics of proviral reservoirs in ECs remain to be determined. Using single-genome, near full-length next-generation sequencing and chromosomal integration site analysis, we here show that proviral reservoirs of ECs frequently consist of oligoclonal to near monoclonal clusters of identical intact proviral sequences. In contrast to persons treated with long-term antiretroviral therapy, intact proviral species from ECs displayed highly distinct chromosomal integration sites in the human genome and were preferentially located in centromeric satellite DNA or in KRAB-ZNF genes on chromosome 19, both of which are associated with heterochromatin features. Moreover, integration sites of intact proviruses from ECs showed increased distance to host transcriptional start sites and accessible chromatin and were enriched for repressive chromatin marks. These data suggest that a distinct proviral reservoir configuration represents a structural correlate of natural viral control, and that quality rather than quantity of viral reservoirs can be an important distinguishing feature for a functional cure of HIV-1 infection. Moreover, failure to detect intact proviral sequences despite analyzing > 1.5 billion peripheral blood mononuclear cells in one EC raises the possibility that a sterilizing cure of HIV-1 infection, previously only observed following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, may be feasible in rare instances.

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

PROVIDER: GSE144332 | GEO | 2020/06/15

REPOSITORIES: GEO

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:HIV-1 infection of resting memory CD4+ T cells forms a barrier to curing HIV-1. Identification of immune biomarkers that correlate with HIV-1 reservoir size could aid with assessing efficacy of HIV-1 eradication strategies, especially in pediatric infections where blood sampling is limited. In adults, the immune exhaustion marker PD-1 on central memory CD4+ T cells (Tcm) correlates with HIV-1 reservoir size. Immune correlates of HIV-1 reservoir size are less defined in perinatal infection. Using multi-parameter flow cytometry, we examined immune activation (CD69, CD25, HLA-DR), and exhaustion (PD-1, TIGIT, LAG-3 and TIM-3) markers on CD4+ T cell subsets (naïve (Tn), central memory (Tcm), and a combination (Ttem) of transitional (Ttm) and effector memory (Tem) in 10 children living with HIV-1 (median age 15.9 years; median duration of virologic suppression 7.0 years), in whom HIV-1 reservoir size was determined with both the Intact Proviral HIV-1 DNA assay (IPDA) and the Tat/Rev limiting dilution assay (TILDA). Total HIV-1 DNA in CD4+ T cells was also measured. Correlations between immune activation, and exhaustion markers on T cell subsets with the various markers of proviral reservoir size, and baseline CD4+ T cell transcriptomes were examined. The median total HIV-1 DNA concentration was 211.9 copies per million CD4+ T cells, with a median intact proviral load in individuals with HIV-1 subtype B of 8.0 copies per million CD4+ T cells. Levels of HLA-DR and TIGIT on Ttem were strongly correlated with total HIV-1 DNA (r=0.758, p=0.015) and (r=0.721, p=0.023), respectively, but not with intact proviral load or inducible reservoir size. HIV-1 DNA load was also positively correlated with transcriptional clusters associated with HLA-DR. In contrast, PD-1 expression on Tcm was inversely correlated with both total HIV-1 DNA (r=-0.67, p=0.039) and HLA-DR in Ttem (r=-0.89, p=0.060). Gene expression profiles for HLA-DR and PD-1 were also inversely correlated. In conclusion, with virologically suppressed perinatal HIV-1 infection, HLA-DR and TIGIT on Ttem CD4+ T cells correlate with total HIV-1 DNA, and may serve as immune biomarkers for transcriptionally active proviruses, including defectives persisting on ART.

Project description:The goal of this project is todetermine if natural killer (NK) cells could be able to control HIV replication and reduce or eliminate viral reservoirs leading to HIV cure or a functional cure. Despite thirty years of work and significant progress, HIV infection continues to be an incurable disease. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has significantly decreased the morbidity and mortality, but lifelong treatment is merely suppressive and does not cure HIV/AIDS. This is because of the existence of a reservoir of viral DNA+ (vDNA+) in cells of the lymphoid tissues with an intact provirus that is thought capable of initiating new rounds of HIV replication (i.e. latency). In addition to this inducible reservoir data suggest ongoing low-level virus replication and persistence in lymphatic tissues of some patients that is related to suboptimal drug levels in these tissues. Strategies are needed that can address both issues. NK cells are innate immune effectors that recognize virally infected targets through a cadre of activating and inhibitory receptors but become dysfunctional in HIV infected people. Strikingly, African green monkeys (AGM) and sooty mangabeys mount a strong control of viral replication in lymph node follicles shortly after the viremia peak that lasts throughout infection. Several mechanisms have been proposed to be implicated in the strong control of viral replication in natural host’s lymph nodes, such as NK cell-mediated control. Indeed, we have recently shown that NK cells could migrate into the b cells follicles in a CXCR5 dependent manner and thus participate to the elimination of viral replication. Thus the purpose of this study is too compare at the transcriptomic level different subset of NK cell isolated from blood and peripheral lymph node of chronically infected AGM to identify a transcriptomic signature which could be linked to an efficient control of SIV replication. This results could then provide a new aproche which could be exploited to generate functional NK cells against HIV in infected patients.

Dataset Information

A unique viral reservoir landscape associated with durable natural control of HIV-1 infection [RNA-seq]

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure