title: Increased frequency of circulating CCR5+ CD4+ T cells in human immunodeficiency virus type 2 infection.
abstract: CCR5 expression determines susceptibility to infection, cell tropism, and the rate of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) disease progression. CCR5 is also considered the major HIV-2 coreceptor in vivo, in spite of broad coreceptor use in vitro. Here we report a significantly increased proportion of memory-effector CD4 T cells expressing CCR5 in HIV-2-infected patients correlating with CD4 depletion. Moreover, HIV-2 proviral DNA was essentially restricted to memory-effector CD4, suggesting that this is the main target for HIV-2. Similar levels of proviral DNA were found in the two infection categories. Thus, the reduced viremia and slow rate of CD4 decline that characterize HIV-2 infection seem to be unrelated to coreceptor availability.
authors.affiliation: Unidade de Imunologia Clínica, Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Faculdade de Medicina de Lisboa, Av. Prof. Egas Moniz, 1649-028 Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Soares
authors.forename: Russell
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Foxall
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Albuquerque
authors.forename: Catarina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cortesão
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.forename: Rui M M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Victorino
authors.forename: Ana E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Sousa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D017931:DNA Primers; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D015498:HIV-2; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011533:Proviruses / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D019713:Receptors, CCR5 / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D019713:Receptors, CCR5