title: Autophagy plays an important role in the containment of HIV-1 in nonprogressor-infected patients.
abstract: Recent in vitro studies have suggested that autophagy may play a role in both HIV-1 replication and disease progression. In this study we investigated whether autophagy protects the small proportion of HIV-1 infected individuals who remain clinically stable for years in the absence of antiretroviral therapy, these named long-term nonprogressors (LTNP) and elite controllers (EC). We found that peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of the HIV-1 controllers present a significantly higher amount of autophagic vesicles associated with an increased expression of autophagic markers with respect to normal progressors. Of note, ex vivo treatment of PBMC from the HIV-1 controllers with the MTOR inhibitor rapamycin results in a more efficient autophagic response, leading to a reduced viral production. These data lead us to propose that autophagy contributes to limiting viral pathogenesis in HIV-1 controllers by targeting viral components for degradation.
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Infectious Diseases; IRCCS "L. Spallanzani"; Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nardacci
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Infectious Diseases; IRCCS "L. Spallanzani"; Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Amendola
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Infectious Diseases; IRCCS "L. Spallanzani"; Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Fabiola
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ciccosanti
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Infectious Diseases; IRCCS "L. Spallanzani"; Rome, Italy; Department of Biology; University of Rome "Tor Vergata"; Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Corazzari
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Infectious Diseases; IRCCS "L. Spallanzani"; Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Esposito
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Infectious Diseases; IRCCS "L. Spallanzani"; Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Chrysoula
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vlassi
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Infectious Diseases; IRCCS "L. Spallanzani"; Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Taibi
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Infectious Diseases; IRCCS "L. Spallanzani"; Rome, Italy; Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies (DiSTeBA); University of Salento; Lecce, Italy.
authors.forename: Gian Maria
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Fimia
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Infectious Diseases; IRCCS "L. Spallanzani"; Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Franca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Del Nonno
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Infectious Diseases; IRCCS "L. Spallanzani"; Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ippolito
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Infectious Diseases; IRCCS "L. Spallanzani"; Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Gianpiero
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: D'Offizi
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Infectious Diseases; IRCCS "L. Spallanzani"; Rome, Italy; Department of Biology; University of Rome "Tor Vergata"; Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Piacentini
mesh_terms: D001343:Autophagy; D002451:Cell Compartmentation; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology*; D020276:HIV Long-Term Survivors; D015497:HIV-1; D006801:Humans; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000473:pathology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology; D014617:Vacuoles / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure / Q000821:virology
keywords: AMBRA1; ATG5; BECN1; HIV-1; autophagy; cell death; elite controllers; long-term nonprogressors