Project description:The goal of antiretroviral therapy (ART) is to suppress HIV-1-replication and reconstitute CD4-T-cells. Here, we report on HIV-infected individuals, who had a paradoxical decline in CD4-T-cells despite ART-mediated suppression of plasma HIV-1 load (plHIV-1). We defined such immunological outcome as extreme immune decline (EXID).
Project description:Patterns of expressed genes examined in cryopreserved peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of seropositive persons electing to stop antiretroviral therapy in the AIDS Clinical Trials Group Study A 5170, were scrutinized to identify markers capable of predicting the likelihood of CD4+ T cell depletion after cessation of ART. Two cohorts were matched for clinical characteristics in a study of the effects of therapy interruption (TI) in ART-treated patients with immunological preservation. Disease progression was determined by CD4+ T cell count decline 24 weeks after TI.Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) identified a set of genes in the Ras signaling pathway, associated with the downregulation of apoptosis, as significantly upregulated in the good outcome group at cessation of ART. Experiment Overall Design: There are 96 samples in this study. 24 patients with good outcome results and 24 matched patients with poor outcome results. Each patient has two time points: week0 and week 24
Project description:A paired analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) isolated before and after antiretroviral therapy (ART) from a robust number of HIV-infected patients (N=36). Results identify a total of 4,157 DEGs following ART in HIV-infected participants and the transition from a period of active virus replication before ART to one of viral suppression This study evaluated PBMC gene expression in cells from 36 (4 dropped from analysis) recently HIV-infected individuals to identify differentially expressed genes following 48 weeks of ART
Project description:Toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems are ubiquitous throughout bacterial and archaeal genomes. TA systems consist of a stable toxin that inhibits growth and a labile antitoxin that prevents toxicity of the toxin. Here we made an artificial TA system (arT/arA) and performed a DNA microarray study for overproduction of the toxin. arT was overexpressed in Escherichia coli BW25113 and compared to the empty vector.
Project description:The development of biomarkers that can predict viral rebound following discontinuation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in HIV-1-infected humans would be an important advance in HIV-1 cure research. In a prior study, we initiated ART in 20 rhesus macaques on days 0, 1, 2, and 3 following SIVmac251 infection prior to plasma viremia1. Following 6 months of suppressive ART, we discontinued ART and observed viral rebound in 9 of 20 animals. Here we show that transcriptomic and proteomic signatures of inflammation and immune activation in peripheral blood during ART suppression predicted viral rebound following ART discontinuation. Higher levels of proinflammatory and cellular immune activation pathways, including TNF, IL-1, IL-6, monocyte, and T cell activation signaling pathways, correlated with viral rebound following ART discontinuation. Immune modulatory IL-10 and TGF-b signaling also correlated with viral rebound. We then validated these candidate biomarkers of viral rebound in a second cohort of SIV-infected, ART-suppressed macaques. Taken together, these data suggest that persistent upregulation of inflammatory and immune activation pathways despite suppressive ART may represent a peripheral blood biomarker signature of the rebound-competent viral reservoir. The development of interventions that target the viral reservoir and modulate this signature may open new avenues in HIV-1 cure research.
Project description:The androgen receptor (AR) directs diverse biological processes through interaction with coregulators such as androgen receptor trapped clone-27 (ART-27). The impact of ART-27 on genome-wide transcription was examined. The studies indicate that loss of ART-27 enhances expression of many androgen-regulated genes, suggesting that ART-27 inhibits gene expression. Surprisingly, classes of genes that are upregulated upon ART-27 depletion include regulators of DNA damage checkpoint and cell cycle progression, suggesting that ART-27 functions to keep expression levels of these genes low. Experiment Overall Design: Steroid-deprived LNCaP cells were transfected with control or ART-27 siRNA and stimulated with ethanol vehicle or 10 nM R1881 for 18 hrs. 8 samples, 4 conditions, 2 replicates per condition.
Project description:Patterns of expressed genes examined in cryopreserved peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of seropositive persons electing to stop antiretroviral therapy in the AIDS Clinical Trials Group Study A 5170, were scrutinized to identify markers capable of predicting the likelihood of CD4+ T cell depletion after cessation of ART. Two cohorts were matched for clinical characteristics in a study of the effects of therapy interruption (TI) in ART-treated patients with immunological preservation. Disease progression was determined by CD4+ T cell count decline 24 weeks after TI.Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) identified a set of genes in the Ras signaling pathway, associated with the downregulation of apoptosis, as significantly upregulated in the good outcome group at cessation of ART. Keywords: Disease state analysis
Project description:With the increasing use of Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) for treatment of human infertility, there is an increasing requirement for embryo culture conditions that perform as similar to nature as possible. How good the match, however, cannot be tested experimentally in human. We solved the central question of how well ART culture protocols prepare embryos for postimplantation development, under the provisions of the 'mouse embryo assay' (MEA). Our side-by-side comparison of 8 conditions [i.e., 3 culture conditions (KSOM, HTF and ISDM1) plus the in vivo system in two different mouse strains (B6 and CD1)] shows that mouse embryos cultured under ART conditions are differentially primed for postimplantation development, and that certain ART protocols outperform the oviduct. The distinct performances of blastocysts formed in ART vs. oviduct do not correlate with any significant transcriptome changes, whereas protein analysis by immunoconfocal microscopy reveals differences in the allocation of embryonic cells to the three germ layers of blastocysts. We conclude that in vitro technology is not always a defective copy of nature, and that the choice of ART protocol primes the embryos for subsequent development. 22 samples were analyzed. B6KSOM: Mouse B6 background, E3.5 blastocysts in KSOM medium, 3 biological rep B6HTF: Mouse B6 background, E3.5 blastocysts in HTF medium, 3 biological rep B6ISM1: Mouse B6 background, E3.5 blastocysts in ISM1 medium, 3 biological rep B6vivo: Mouse B6 background, E3.5 blastocysts in vivo, 3 biological rep CD1KSOM: Mouse CD1 background, E3.5 blastocysts in KSOM medium, 1 biological rep CD1HTF: Mouse CD1 background, E3.5 blastocysts in HTF medium, 3 biological rep CD1ISM1: Mouse CD1 background, E3.5 blastocysts in ISM1 medium, 3 biological rep CD1vivo: Mouse CD1 background, E3.5 blastocysts in vivo, 3 biological rep
Project description:In study NCT00594880, we successfully administered weekly doses of pegylated interferon-α-2a (Peg-IFN-α2a) with antiretroviral therapy (ART) for 5 weeks, before continued Peg-IFN-α2a monotherapy to 12 weeks (primary endpoint) in chronic HIV-infected subjects. Subjects maintaining HIV viral load <400 copies/ml by primary endpoint were defined as responders. We now describe innate immune correlates and transcriptional profiles associated with viral control and decrease in integrated HIV DNA after Peg-IFN-α2a immunotherapy. Peripheral blood samples were obtained prior to Peg-IFN-α2a administration (ART), after 5 weeks of ART+Peg-IFN-α2a dual treatment, and after 12 weeks of Peg-IFN-α2a monotherapy. Cell subset modulation, natural killer cell (NK) function and signaling, as well as inflammatory mediators and gene expression were assessed. Results were analyzed using R.2.5.1 or MATLAB 7.10.0. Five weeks of ART+Peg-IFN-α2a preserved the frequency of immune subsets and NK cytotoxicity, while increased the levels of inflammatory mediators, and decreased cell-responsiveness to in vitro IFN-α re-stimulation. Gene expression analysis showed that induction of host restriction factors after ART+Peg-IFN-α2a was not solely predictive of a virologic response, and revealed a 108 gene signature that identified subjects who did not modulate genes after ART+Peg-IFN-α2a. A 29 gene signature along with higher NK cell activation and IFN-γ-induced protein 10 (IP-10) levels on ART, as well as higher in vitro responses to IFN-γ-induced NK cytotoxicity, and decrease in the frequency of NK bearing inhibitory receptors [i.e. killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor, two domains, long cytoplasmic tail 1 (KIR2DL1) or KIR2DL2/DL3] and C-C chemokine receptor type 7+ (CCR7) myeloid dendritic cells after ART+Peg-IFN-α2a distinguished responders from non-responders. Reductions in integrated HIV DNA after immunotherapy were associated with expression patterns of genes that are associated with activated cell-mediated response and NK cytotoxicity. In summary, innate activation and NK cell cytotoxicity are identified as correlates of HIV control and reduction after Peg-IFN-α2a immunotherapy in ART-suppressed subjects.