title: Recurrent HIV-1 integration at the BACH2 locus in resting CD4+ T cell populations during effective highly active antiretroviral therapy.
abstract: The persistence of latent human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) has been considered one of the major obstacles for eradication of the virus in infected individuals receiving successful antiretroviral therapy. To determine the contribution of integration sites to viral latency within clinical settings, an inverse polymerase chain reaction method was used to analyze integration sites in CD4(+) T cells from patients showing long-term undetectable plasma viral RNA. Of 457 sites identified in 7 patients, almost all (96%) resided within transcriptional units, usually in introns of the human genome. Studies of 18 genes in which HIV-1 integrates found them to be actively expressed in resting CD4(+) T cells. On the other hand, integration sites in the alpha satellite region was also identified in some patients, albeit at low frequency. Of particular interest, HIV-1-infected cells with multiple identical integration sites were detected in longitudinal analysis of samples from 3 patients, suggesting that these cells persist for long periods and that clonal expansion may occur. Furthermore, strong integration clusters in the BACH2 gene were observed in 2 patients (31% in patient 1 and 5% in patient 3). Our findings not only raise the possibility of biased target-site integration but also provide mechanistic insights into the long-term persistence of HIV-1.
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Retrovirology and Infectious Diseases, Center for AIDS Research, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto 860-0811, Japan.
authors.forename: Terumasa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ikeda
authors.forename: Junji
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shibata
authors.forename: Kazuhisa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoshimura
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Koito
authors.forename: Shuzo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Matsushita
mesh_terms: D019380:Anti-HIV Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D023241:Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active; D050976:Basic-Leucine Zipper Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics*; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000821:virology*; D004279:DNA, Viral; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics* / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D016662:Virus Integration; D017735:Virus Latency
chemical_list: D019380:Anti-HIV Agents; C491123:BACH2 protein, human; D050976:Basic-Leucine Zipper Transcription Factors; D004279:DNA, Viral; D012367:RNA, Viral