Mucosal mechanisms of altered HIV susceptibility in adolescents

The team at Northwestern University will conduct an analysis of vaginal biopsies and determine SIV target cell density and localization and define the characteristics of the epithelial barrier in a subset of animals showing differences based on proteomic, flow cytometry, and other parameters. This adjustment and focus is because the key series of challenge studies comparing adult and adolescent animals showed no difference in susceptibility of the 2 groups to vaginal challenge. Using our established methods, we will seek to identify foci of infection and determine the location and phenotype of SIV infected cells to define similarities and any differences between adults and adolescent pigtail macaques.