title: Infection of human immunodeficiency virus and intracellular viral Tat protein exert a pro-survival effect in a human microglial cell line.
abstract: The interaction of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) with CD4+ T lymphocytes is well studied and typically results in virally induced cytolysis. In contrast, relatively little is known concerning the interplay between HIV-1 and microglia. Recent findings suggest that, counter-intuitively, HIV-1 infection may extend the lifespan of microglia. We developed a novel cell line model system to confirm and mechanistically study this phenomenon. We found that transduction of a human microglial cell line with an HIV-1 vector results in a powerful cytoprotective effect following apoptotic challenge. This effect was reproduced by ectopic expression of a single virus-encoded protein, Tat. Subsequent studies showed that the pro-survival effects of intracellular Tat could be attributed to activation of the PI-3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt pathway in the microglial cell line. Furthermore, we found that expression of Tat led to decreased expression of PTEN, a negative regulator of the PI-3-K pathway. Consistent with this, decreased p53 activity and increased E2F activity were observed. Based on these findings, a model of possible regulatory circuits that intracellular Tat and HIV-1 infection engage during the cytoprotective event in microglia has been suggested. We propose that the expression of Tat may enable HIV-1 infected microglia to survive throughout the course of infection, leading to persistent HIV-1 production and infection in the central nervous system.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center, 601 Elmwood Avenue, Box 672, Rochester, NY 14742, USA.
authors.forename: Pauline
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chugh
authors.forename: Shongshan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Vicente
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Planelles
authors.forename: Sanjay B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Maggirwar
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dewhurst
authors.forename: Baek
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D002460:Cell Line; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002470:Cell Survival; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D015696:Gene Products, tat / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008264:Macrophages / Q000502:physiology / Q000821:virology; D017628:Microglia / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology / Q000821:virology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D051059:PTEN Phosphohydrolase / Q000378:metabolism; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / Q000378:metabolism; D014161:Transduction, Genetic; D014162:Transfection; D054322:tat Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus
chemical_list: D015696:Gene Products, tat; D054322:tat Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; D051059:PTEN Phosphohydrolase