Submission Date: Mar 10, 2021
Summary: Introduction: HIV infection causes pathologic changes in the natural killer (NK) cell compartment that can be only partially restored by antiretroviral therapy (ART). We investigated NK cells phenotype and function in children with perinatally acquired HIV (PHIV) and long term viral control (5years) due to effective ART in a multicentre cross-sectional study (CARMA, EPIICAL consortium). The impact of age at ART start and viral reservoir was also evaluated.
Methods: Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMCs) from 40 PHIV that started ART within two years of life (early treated patients, ET ≤ 6 months; late treated patients, LT > 6 months), with at least five years of HIV-1 suppression (< 40 HIV copies/ml), were collected between November 2017 and August 2018. NK phenotype and function were analysed by flow cytometry and transcriptional profile of PBMCs by RNA-Seq. HIV-1 DNA was measured by real-time PCR. Data were analysed by Spearman correlation plots and multivariable Poisson regression model (adjusted for baseline %CD4 and RNA HIV viral load and for age at ART start as interaction term, either ET or LT) to explore the association between NK cell parameters and HIV reservoir modulated by age at ART start.
Results: A significantly higher frequency of CD56neg NK cells was found in LT compared with ET. We further found in LT a positive correlation of CD56neg NK with HIV-1 DNA. LT also displayed increased expression of the NKG2D and NKp46 activating receptors and perforin compared with ET. Moreover, CD107a+ and IFN-γ+ frequencies in non-stimulated NK were associated with HIV-1 DNA in LT patients. Finally, RNA-Seq analysis showed in LT an upregulation of genes related to NK activating pathways and susceptibility to apoptosis compared with ET.
Conclusions: We show that ET present a preserved NK compartment compared with LT, which is associated with lower HIV-1 reservoir and persist despite long-term viral control due to effective ART.
GEO Accession ID: GSE168658
PMID: 34235857
Select conditions below to toggle them from the plot:
| GROUP | CONDITION | SAMPLES |
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| PBMC |
GSM5155336 GSM5155345 GSM5155347 GSM5155349 GSM5155351 GSM5155354 GSM5155357
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GSM5155335 GSM5155337 GSM5155338 GSM5155339 GSM5155340 GSM5155341 GSM5155342 GSM5155343 GSM5155344 GSM5155346 GSM5155348 GSM5155350 GSM5155352 GSM5155353 GSM5155355 GSM5155356
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Submission Date: Mar 10, 2021
Summary: Introduction: HIV infection causes pathologic changes in the natural killer (NK) cell compartment that can be only partially restored by antiretroviral therapy (ART). We investigated NK cells phenotype and function in children with perinatally acquired HIV (PHIV) and long term viral control (5years) due to effective ART in a multicentre cross-sectional study (CARMA, EPIICAL consortium). The impact of age at ART start and viral reservoir was also evaluated.
Methods: Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMCs) from 40 PHIV that started ART within two years of life (early treated patients, ET ≤ 6 months; late treated patients, LT > 6 months), with at least five years of HIV-1 suppression (< 40 HIV copies/ml), were collected between November 2017 and August 2018. NK phenotype and function were analysed by flow cytometry and transcriptional profile of PBMCs by RNA-Seq. HIV-1 DNA was measured by real-time PCR. Data were analysed by Spearman correlation plots and multivariable Poisson regression model (adjusted for baseline %CD4 and RNA HIV viral load and for age at ART start as interaction term, either ET or LT) to explore the association between NK cell parameters and HIV reservoir modulated by age at ART start.
Results: A significantly higher frequency of CD56neg NK cells was found in LT compared with ET. We further found in LT a positive correlation of CD56neg NK with HIV-1 DNA. LT also displayed increased expression of the NKG2D and NKp46 activating receptors and perforin compared with ET. Moreover, CD107a+ and IFN-γ+ frequencies in non-stimulated NK were associated with HIV-1 DNA in LT patients. Finally, RNA-Seq analysis showed in LT an upregulation of genes related to NK activating pathways and susceptibility to apoptosis compared with ET.
Conclusions: We show that ET present a preserved NK compartment compared with LT, which is associated with lower HIV-1 reservoir and persist despite long-term viral control due to effective ART.
GEO Accession ID: GSE168658
PMID: 34235857
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This pipeline enables you to analyze and visualize your bulk RNA sequencing datasets with an array of downstream analysis and visualization tools. The pipeline includes: PCA analysis, Clustergrammer interactive heatmap, library size analysis, differential gene expression analysis, enrichment analysis, and L1000 small molecule search.
