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. 2018 Aug 21;24(8):2088-2100.
doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2018.07.079.

HIV-1-Infected CD4+ T Cells Facilitate Latent Infection of Resting CD4+ T Cells through Cell-Cell Contact

Luis M Agosto  1 , Melissa B Herring  2 , Walther Mothes  3 , Andrew J Henderson  4
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HIV-1-Infected CD4+ T Cells Facilitate Latent Infection of Resting CD4+ T Cells through Cell-Cell Contact

Luis M Agosto et al. Cell Rep. .
Free article

Abstract

HIV-1 is transmitted between T cells through the release of cell-free particles and through cell-cell contact. Cell-to-cell transmission is more efficient than cell-free virus transmission, mediates resistance to immune responses, and facilitates the spread of virus among T cells. However, whether HIV cell-to-cell transmission influences the establishment of HIV-1 latency has not been carefully explored. We developed an HIV-1 latency model based on the transmission of HIV-1 directly to resting CD4+ T cells by cell-cell contact. This model recapitulates the spread of HIV-1 in T-cell-dense anatomical compartments. We demonstrate that productively infected activated CD4+ T cells transmit HIV-1 to resting CD4+ T cells in a cell-contact-dependent manner. However, proviruses generated in this fashion are more difficult to induce compared to proviruses generated by cell-free infection, suggesting that cell-to-cell transmission influences the establishment and maintenance of latent infection in resting CD4+ T cells.

Keywords: HIV cell-to-cell transmission; HIV integration; HIV latency; HIV reservoirs; resting CD4 T cells.

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