title: HIV-1 expressing the envelopes of transmitted/founder or control/reference viruses have similar infection patterns of CD4 T-cells in human cervical tissue ex vivo.
abstract: Recently, it was found that 80% of sexual HIV-1 transmissions are established by a single virion/viral genome. To investigate whether the transmitted/founder (T/F) viruses have specific biological properties favoring sexual transmission, we inoculated human cervical tissue explants with isogenic HIV-1 viruses encoding Env sequences from T/F and control reference (C/R) HIV-1 variants as well as with full length T/F HIV-1 and compared their replication efficiencies, T cell depletion, and the activation status of infected cells. We found that all the HIV-1 variants were capable of transmitting infection to cervical tissue ex vivo and in this system preferentially replicate in activated CD4 T cells and deplete these cells. There was no difference in the biological properties of T/F and C/R HIV-1 variants as evaluated in ex vivo cervical tissue.
authors.affiliation: Section of Intercellular Interactions, Program in Physical Biology, Eunice-Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: Melanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Merbah
authors.forename: Anush
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arakelyan
authors.forename: Tara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Edmonds
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ochsenbauer
authors.forename: John C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Kappes
authors.forename: Robin J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Shattock
authors.forename: Jean-Charles
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Grivel
authors.forename: Leonid B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Margolis
mesh_terms: D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology*; D002584:Cervix Uteri / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology*; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000235:genetics / Q000635:transmission / Q000821:virology; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology