Endothelial progenitor cell trafficking in human immunodeficiency virus-infected persons.
OBJECTIVE
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected people exhibit a high incidence of vascular diseases. Since in the general population the high cardiovascular risk has been associated with an impaired endothelial cell function, we investigated circulating endothelial progenitor cells in HIV-positive patients.


METHODS
We evaluated circulating colony-forming unit-endothelial cell (CFU-EC) and endothelial colony-forming cell (ECFC) progenitors in 14 antiviral therapy-naive HIV-positive patients, in comparison with 15 normal controls.


METHODS
CFU-EC and ECFC derived from peripheral blood mononuclear cells from HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected individuals were recovered and evaluated for HIV genome presence by PCR. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and apolipoprotein B mRNA-editing enzyme catalytic polypeptide like (APOBEC) subunits expression were evaluated in infected colonies by real-time PCR.


RESULTS
We found that circulating CFU-EC but not ECFC were significantly reduced in HIV-positive patients and that proviral HIV DNA was detectable only in CFU-EC but not in ECFC. Furthermore, the expression of APOBEC subunits was significantly lower in CFU-EC than in circulating monocytes. Accordingly, the CFU-EC displayed a high content of proviral DNA copies, suggesting that these cells have a high sensitivity to the HIV infection.


CONCLUSIONS
Although HIV does not affect the 'true endothelial progenitor' compartment, it infects and strongly depletes circulating endothelial progenitors with hematopoietic signature. We unravel a novel pathogenetic mechanism by which HIV infection might cause vascular diseases.
Teofili
Luciana
L
Department of Hematology, Catholic University, Rome, Italy.
Iachininoto
Maria G
MG
Capodimonti
Sara
S
Ucciferri
Claudio
C
Nuzzolo
Eugenia R
ER
Martini
Maurizio
M
Torti
Lorenza
L
Falasca
Katia
K
Vecchiet
Jacopo
J
Leone
Giuseppe
G
Larocca
Luigi M
LM
D000328:Adult; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D021381:Protein Transport / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult