HIV is inactivated after transepithelial migration via adult oral epithelial cells but not fetal epithelial cells.
Oral transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in adult populations is rare. However, HIV spread across fetal/neonatal oropharyngeal epithelia could be important in mother-to-child transmission. Analysis of HIV transmission across polarized adult and fetal oral epithelial cells revealed that HIV transmigrates through both adult and fetal cells. However, only virions that passed through the fetal cells - and not those that passed through the adult cells - remained infectious. Analysis of expression of anti-HIV innate proteins beta-defensins 2 and 3, and secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor in adult, fetal, and infant oral epithelia showed that their expression is predominantly in the adult oral epithelium. Retention of HIV infectivity after transmigration correlated inversely with the expression of these innate proteins. Inactivation of innate proteins in adult oral keratinocytes restored HIV infectivity. These data suggest that high-level innate protein expression may contribute to the resistance of the adult oral epithelium to HIV transmission.
Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, 513 Parnassus Ave, San Francisco, CA 94143-0512, USA. sharof.tugizov@ucsf.edu
Sharof M
SM
Tugizov
Rossana
R
Herrera
Piri
P
Veluppillai
Deborah
D
Greenspan
Vanessa
V
Soros
Warner C
WC
Greene
Jay A
JA
Levy
Joel M
JM
Palefsky
D000328:Adult; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology*; D005333:Fetus; D015870:Gene Expression; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006678:HIV / Q000254:growth & development / Q000276:immunology / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D053481:Secretory Leukocyte Peptidase Inhibitor / Q000096:biosynthesis; D057705:Transendothelial and Transepithelial Migration; D038301:Virus Inactivation; D023083:beta-Defensins / Q000096:biosynthesis
C422950:DEFB103A protein, human; C106641:DEFB4A protein, human; D053481:Secretory Leukocyte Peptidase Inhibitor; D023083:beta-Defensins