Transcriptionally Active Defective HIV-1 Proviruses and Their Association With Immunological Nonresponse to Antiretroviral Therapy

A subset of antiretroviral therapy-treated persons with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), referred to as immunological nonresponders (INRs), fails to normalize CD4+ T-cell numbers. In a case-control study involving 26 INRs (CD4 < 250 cells/µL) and 25 immunological responders (IRs; CD4 ≥ 250 cel...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of infectious diseases 2024-06, Vol.229 (6), p.1786-1790
Main Authors: Scrimieri, Francesca, Bastian, Estella, Smith, Mindy, Rehm, Catherine A, Morse, Caryn, Kuruppu, Janaki, McLaughlin, Mary, Chang, Weizhong, Sereti, Irini, Kovacs, Joseph A, Lane, H Clifford, Imamichi, Hiromi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Brief Report
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A subset of antiretroviral therapy-treated persons with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), referred to as immunological nonresponders (INRs), fails to normalize CD4+ T-cell numbers. In a case-control study involving 26 INRs (CD4 < 250 cells/µL) and 25 immunological responders (IRs; CD4 ≥ 250 cells/µL), we evaluated the potential contribution of transcriptionally competent defective HIV-1 proviruses to poor CD4+ T-cell recovery. Compared to the responders, the INRs had higher levels of cell-associated HIV RNA (P = .034) and higher percentages of HLA-DR+ CD4+ T cells (P < .001). While not encoding replication-competent viruses, the RNA transcripts frequently encoded HIV-1 Gag-p17 and Nef proteins. These transcripts and/or resulting proteins may activate pathway(s) leading to the immunological nonresponse phenotype.
ISSN:0022-1899
1537-6613
1537-6613
DOI:10.1093/infdis/jiae009