Project description:Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB), is the most common coinfection among people living with HIV-1. This coinfection alters the efficacy of the immune response against both HIV-1 and Mtb, and is associated with accelerated HIV-1 disease progression and reduced survival. Enhanced HIV-1 replication in macrophages induced by Mtb coinfection may contribute to the worsened clinical outcomes observed in HIV-1/TB coinfected individuals. However, the impact of the HIV-1/TB coinfection on HIV-1 replication and latency in CD4+ T cells remains poorly studied. In this study, we used the acellular fraction of tuberculous pleural effusion (TB-PE) as a proxy for the microenvironment generated by Mtb infection. Using this physiologically relevant fluid, we investigated whether viral replication and HIV-1 latency in CD4+ T cells are affected by a TB-associated microenvironment. Interestingly, our results revealed that TB-PE shaped the transcriptional profile of CD4+ T cells impairing T cell receptor-dependent cell activation and decreased HIV-1 replication. Moreover, this immunosuppressive TB microenvironment promoted viral latency and inhibited HIV-1 reactivation in CD4+ T cells from people living with HIV-1. This study indicates that the immune response induced by TB may contribute to the persistence of the viral reservoir by silencing HIV-1 expression in individuals coinfected with both pathogens, allowing the virus to persist undetected by the immune system and increasing the size of the HIV-1 latent reservoir in cells at the site of the coinfection.
Project description:Chronic immune activation is a hallmark of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and the best prognostic indicator of disease progression. Suppressing HIV viremia by antiretroviral therapy (ART) restores normal immune response and effectively prolongs life. In HIV-infected individuals who are coinfected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) the immune system is activated despite effective HIV antiretroviral therapy controlling viral load. Here we examined CD14+ monocyte gene expression by high-density microarray analysis and T cell subsets, CD4 and CD8, by flow cytometry to characterize immune activation in monoinfected HCV, monoinfected HIV and HIV/HCV coinfected subjects with undetected HIV viral load. To determine the impact of coinfection on cognition, subjects were evaluated in 7 domains for neuropsychological (NP) performance, which was summarized as global deficit scores (GDS). Gene expression analysis of CD14+ monocytes from coinfected subjects revealed an elevated type 1 interferon (IFN) response profile unique to coinfection. For both CD4 and CD8 T cells, coinfection triggered significantly increased expression of activation markers CD38 and HLA-DR. In the coinfected group, mild cognitive impairment was associated with a type 1 IFN monocyte response but not plasma lipopolysaccharide. These observations raise the possibility that cognitive impairment evident in the HIV/HCV population is associated with the IFN response detected in coinfected individuals.
Project description:Human T-leukemia virus 1 (HTLV-1) is an oncogenic retrovirus with no available curative therapy. In-vitro data suggests HTLV-1 may be susceptible to certain HIV-1 antiretroviral compounds but their value, if any, in the context of a clinically-relevant transmission model is unknown. We addressed this knowledge gap by investigating the efficacy of the anti-retroviral compounds, tenofovir and dolutegravir, in preventing HTLV-1 transmission and infection in a humanised mouse model of HTLV-1 subtype c (HTLV-1c) infection, the first of its kind. Characterisation of this model revealed that HTLV-1c and HTLV-1 subtype a (HTLV-1a) showed subtle differences in natural history of disease but not as striking as the differences observed clinically, indicating additional host and environmental contributors to human disease. Single cell RNA sequencing of CD4+ T cell VDJ transcripts revealed poly- and oligoclonal expansion of HTLV-1c-infected CD4+ T cells. We show that tenofovir significantly reduces HTLV-1 transmission in vivo at clinically relevant doses when administered as pre-exposure prophylaxis. Further, tenofovir and dolutegravir combination significantly attenuates viral spread and disease progression during early infection. Our data support the use of tenofovir and dolutegravir against HTLV-1 transmission and early infection. Routine use of these drugs as effective prophylactic agents against HIV-1 infection will facilitate their rapid translation to HTLV-1 clinical trials.
Project description:Chronic immune activation is a hallmark of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and the best prognostic indicator of disease progression. Suppressing HIV viremia by antiretroviral therapy (ART) restores normal immune response and effectively prolongs life. In HIV-infected individuals who are coinfected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) the immune system is activated despite effective HIV antiretroviral therapy controlling viral load. Here we examined CD14+ monocyte gene expression by high-density microarray analysis and T cell subsets, CD4 and CD8, by flow cytometry to characterize immune activation in monoinfected HCV, monoinfected HIV and HIV/HCV coinfected subjects with undetected HIV viral load. To determine the impact of coinfection on cognition, subjects were evaluated in 7 domains for neuropsychological (NP) performance, which was summarized as global deficit scores (GDS). Gene expression analysis of CD14+ monocytes from coinfected subjects revealed an elevated type 1 interferon (IFN) response profile unique to coinfection. For both CD4 and CD8 T cells, coinfection triggered significantly increased expression of activation markers CD38 and HLA-DR. In the coinfected group, mild cognitive impairment was associated with a type 1 IFN monocyte response but not plasma lipopolysaccharide. These observations raise the possibility that cognitive impairment evident in the HIV/HCV population is associated with the IFN response detected in coinfected individuals. Monocytes isolated from healthy controls (n=17), HCV monoinfected (n=19) and HIV/HCV coinfected (n=17) were analyzed for gene expression using high-density microarrays. Whole blood was collected in Vacutainer CPT tubes (BD Biosciences) and PBMCs were enriched by centrifugation. Typically, three million CD14+ monocytes were isolated from 30 ml of whole blood using an anti-CD14 monoclonal antibody immunomagnetic - ferrous bead conjugate according to the manufacturer’s instructions (Miltenyi Biotech). Monocyte purity exceeded 97% with <1% T or B cell contamination as determined by flow cytometry. Monocyte RNA was isolated using a Qiagen RNeasy Micro Kit with an RNA integrity value exceeding 9. Complementary DNA was synthesized and labeled with biotin (iExpress iAmplify kit, Applied Microarrays) and hybridized to Codelink Whole Human Genome Bioarrays (55K probes, Applied Microarrays). Slides were scanned (Axon GenePix 4000B, Molecular Devices), analyzed (CodeLink Expression Software Kit v4.1) and microarray data were normalized with loess normalization using R and Bioconductor package. Determination of differential gene expression and multiple testing correction / false discovery rate adjustments were performed using GeneSpring GX 7.3 software package (Agilent). Microarray data was analyzed using a variety of custom data analytic techniques for gene expression profile identification as described previously. Correlations were determined by Spearman rank correlation coefficient.
Project description:Despite the success of antiretroviral therapy, HIV cannot be cured because of a reservoir of latently infected cells that evades therapy. To understand the mechanisms of HIV latency, we employed an integrated single-cell RNA-seq/ATAC-seq approach to simultaneously profile the transcriptomic and epigenomic characteristics of ~125,000 latently infected primary CD4 cells after reactivation using three different latency-reversing agents.
Project description:BACKGROUND: Patients with HIV that are coinfected with HCV are at increased risk for rapidly progressive liver disease and subsequently the development of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC). Specifically, HCC develops earlier in coinfected patients and these patients are more symptomatic than those with only HCV infection at diagnosis suggesting that both viruses increase the propensity for malignant transformation. Consequently, HCV coinfection and the associated liver disease is a major health burden for HIV infected persons in the U.S. However, the genetic and cellular based mechanisms underpinning how HCV initiates and subsequently induces liver pathology and why coinfection with HIV results in significantly worse hepatic disease remains to be clarified. In addition, the specific cell types that contribute to these clinical outcomes are unknown. METHODS: The goal of this project is focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the hepatic sequela in coinfected patients specifically focusing on the innate inflammatory responses activated by HIV in liver cells. To this end, we have developed novel in-vitro models that utilize HIV stimulated primary kupffer cells (PKCs). RESULTS: HIV stimulation of primary kupffer cells resulted in rapid and robust upregulation of an inflammatory gene signature. The goal of this study is to characterize the changes in gene expression triggered by HIV in primary human kupffer cells.
Project description:We aim to characterize HIV and HCV coinfected patient response to combined antiretroviral therapy through genome-wide expression profiling of patients' periperhal blood mononuclear cells before and after treatment initiation (baseline and 24 weeks). Individuals with frank cirrhosis were excluded from the study. We used Affymetrix PrimeView arrays to quantify baseline transcriptomic characteristics and changes in the transcriptome following treatment. Gene expression changes were analyzed based on the change in expression of each transcript per patient. Mononuclear cells were purified from peripheral blood samples of 8 patients with HIV and HCV coinfection at baseline and after 24 weeks of combined antiretroviral therapy. Genes from whole blood RNA was measured via Affymetrix PrimeView microarrays.
Project description:Recently, several neutralizing anti-HIV antibodies have been isolated from memory B cells of HIV-infected individuals. However, despite extensive evidence of B-cell dysfunction in HIV disease, little is known about the cells from which these rare HIV-specific antibodies originate. Accordingly, HIV envelope gp140 and CD4 or co-receptor (CoR) binding site (bs) mutant probes were used to evaluate HIV-specific responses in the peripheral blood B cells of individuals at various stages of infection. In contrast to non-HIV responses, HIV-specific responses against gp140 were enriched within abnormal B cells, namely activated and exhausted memory subsets, which are largely absent in the blood of uninfected individuals. Responses against the CoRbs (a poorly-neutralizing epitope) arose early whereas those against the CD4bs (a well-characterized neutralizing epitope) were delayed and infrequent. Enrichment of the HIV-specific response within resting memory B cells, the predominant subset in uninfected individuals, did occur in certain infected individuals who maintained low levels of plasma viremia and immune activation with or without antiretroviral therapy. These findings were corroborated by transcriptional profiles. Taken together, our findings provide valuable insight into virus-specific B-cell responses in HIV infection and demonstrate that memory B-cell abnormalities may contribute to the ineffectiveness of the antibody response in infected individuals.