Abstract
The CD16+ subset of monocytes is dramatically expanded in peripheral blood during progression to AIDS, but its contribution to HIV pathogenesis is unknown. Here, we demonstrate that CD16+ but not CD16- monocytes promote high levels of HIV replication upon differentiation into macrophages and interaction with T cells. Conjugates formed between CD16+ monocyte-derived macrophages and T cells are major sites of viral replication. Furthermore, similar monocyte-T cell conjugates detected in peripheral blood of HIV-infected patients harbor HIV DNA. Thus, expansion of CD16+ monocytes during HIV infection and their subsequent recruitment into tissues such as lymph nodes, brain, and intestine may contribute to HIV dissemination and establishment of productive infection in T cells.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 267-276 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Virology |
| Volume | 344 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 20 2006 |
Funding
We thank Dr. C. Aiken for the NL4.3-BaL-GFP plasmid, M. Ocana and M. Chafel for the technical assistance with confocal microscopy analysis, and Sandra Lee for assistance with statistical analysis. This work was supported by NIH DA016549. Core facilities were supported by the Harvard Medical School Center for AIDS Research, DFCI/Harvard Center for Cancer Research grants, and the Harvard Center for Neurodegeneration and Repair. The authors have no conflicting financial interests.
Keywords
- CD16 monocytes
- Conjugates
- HIV
- T cells
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Virology
