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. 2017 Aug 15;8(4):e01186-17.
doi: 10.1128/mBio.01186-17.

Brain Macrophages in Simian Immunodeficiency Virus-Infected, Antiretroviral-Suppressed Macaques: a Functional Latent Reservoir

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Brain Macrophages in Simian Immunodeficiency Virus-Infected, Antiretroviral-Suppressed Macaques: a Functional Latent Reservoir

Claudia R Avalos et al. mBio. .

Abstract

A human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection cure requires an understanding of the cellular and anatomical sites harboring virus that contribute to viral rebound upon treatment interruption. Despite antiretroviral therapy (ART), HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) are reported in HIV-infected individuals on ART. Biomarkers for macrophage activation and neuronal damage in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of HIV-infected individuals demonstrate continued effects of HIV in brain and suggest that the central nervous system (CNS) may serve as a viral reservoir. Using a simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)/macaque model for HIV encephalitis and AIDS, we evaluated whether infected cells persist in brain despite ART. Eight SIV-infected pig-tailed macaques were virally suppressed with ART, and plasma and CSF viremia levels were analyzed longitudinally. To assess whether virus persisted in brain macrophages (BrMΦ) in these macaques, we used a macrophage quantitative viral outgrowth assay (MΦ-QVOA), PCR, and in situ hybridization (ISH) to measure the frequency of infected cells and the levels of viral RNA and DNA in brain. Viral RNA in brain tissue of suppressed macaques was undetectable, although viral DNA was detected in all animals. The MΦ-QVOA demonstrated that the majority of suppressed animals contained latently infected BrMΦ. We also showed that virus produced in the MΦ-QVOAs was replication competent, suggesting that latently infected BrMΦ are capable of reestablishing productive infection upon treatment interruption. This report provides the first confirmation of the presence of replication-competent SIV in BrMΦ of ART-suppressed macaques and suggests that the highly debated issue of viral latency in macrophages, at least in brain, has been addressed in SIV-infected macaques treated with ART.IMPORTANCE Resting CD4+ T cells are currently the only cells that fit the definition of a latent reservoir. However, recent evidence suggests that HIV/SIV-infected macrophages persist despite ART. Markers of macrophage activation and neuronal damage are observed in the CSF of HIV-infected individuals and of SIV-infected macaques on suppressive ART regimens, suggesting that the CNS has continued virus infection and latent infection. A controversy exists as to whether brain macrophages represent a latent source of replication-competent virus capable of reestablishing infection upon treatment interruption. In this study, we demonstrated the presence of the latent macrophage reservoir in brains of SIV-infected ART-treated macaques and analyzed the reservoir using our established outgrowth assay to quantitate macrophages harboring replication-competent SIV genomes. Our results support the idea of the existence of other latent reservoirs in addition to resting CD4+ T cells and underscore the importance of macrophages in developing strategies to eradicate HIV.

Keywords: brain; human immunodeficiency virus; latency; macrophages; simian immunodeficiency virus.

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Figures

FIG 1
FIG 1
Viral load in plasma and CSF of two cohorts of SIV-infected ART-treated macaques. Two cohorts of SIV-infected pig-tailed macaques were treated with similar ART regimens (listed above the horizontal green line). (A and B) Macaques in cohort A1 were suppressed for more than 500 days and were treated with LRAs (ingenol-B, orange; ingenol-B plus suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid [SAHA], purple). (C and D) Macaques in cohort A2 followed similar protocol as those in cohort A1 but were suppressed for 100 to 400 days and treated with LRAs (ingenol plus SAHA in purple) in the last 60 days before euthanasia (Table 1). Median values for each group of animals are depicted in red for plasma (A and C) and dark blue for CSF (B and D). Analyses of samples with values below the limit of detection for the SIV qPCR assay (100 SIV RNA copies/ml) were repeated using ddPCR.
FIG 2
FIG 2
Analyses of viral decay in plasma and CSF. The line for each cohort represents the curve best fitting the geometric means of longitudinal viral loads (symbols) for that cohort in plasma (A) and CSF (B). Values in the insets show half-lives (t1/2) and R2 values for phase (ph) 1 and phase 2 in the curves. Cohort A0 represents data previously published (34).
FIG 3
FIG 3
Quantitation of latently infected BrMΦ in ART-treated macaques by MΦ-QVOA. (A and B) Quantitation of infected BrMΦ from two groups of ART-treated macaques. In panel B, wells containing <50 SIV RNA copies/ml were also considered positive, and IUPM (infectious units per million cells) values were calculated accordingly. Boxes in panels A and B indicate values under the limit of detection, i.e., BrMΦ samples that did not present positive well results by qPCR. (C) Comparison between the numbers of SIV-infected BrMΦ isolated from animals that were not given ART (−ART) and the numbers isolated from animals that were treated with ART and showed full suppression (+ART; PmA13 not included). The horizontal black line represents the median IUPM values. The MΦ-QVOA results from SIV-infected animals without ART were previously reported (35). Significance was determined by Mann-Whitney nonparametric t test; a P of <0.05 was considered significant. (D) Numbers of SIV RNA copies in the supernatants of QVOA-positive wells separated according to the pattern of replication (<50 copies/ml, >50 copies/ml without spread, or replicative).
FIG 4
FIG 4
Virus from BrMΦ QVOA is replication competent in PBMCs. The graph depicts the increased levels of SIV RNA in supernatants of PBMC cultures that were subjected to spinoculation with 100 µl of supernatants collected from BrMΦ QVOA wells. Different wells from each of the five analyzed macaques are depicted in the same color, and each line represents the result of one supernatant transfer. The first time point depicts the number of SIV RNA copies contained in the 100-µl volume of the BrMΦ QVOA well that was used for spinoculation. The other time points show the numbers of total supernatant copies measured at 5 to 7 days and 10 to 14 days postspinoculation.
FIG 5
FIG 5
In situ hybridization (ISH) for SIV RNA in brain sections. Data are representative of ISH results of analysis of SIV RNA in brain (occipital cortex) of macaque PmA13 (top row) and Mn3, which represents a previously published SIV-infected macaque that discontinued ART and had SIV rebound (lower row) (36); magnification, ×40.

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