Increased Prevalence of Unstable HLA-C Variants in HIV-1 Rapid-Progressor Patients.

HIV-1 infection in the absence of treatment results in progression toward AIDS. Host genetic factors play a role in HIV-1 pathogenesis, but complete knowledge is not yet available. Since less-expressed HLA-C variants are associated with poor HIV-1 control and unstable HLA-C variants are associated with higher HIV-1 infectivity, we investigated whether there was a correlation between the different stages of HIV-1 progression and the presence of specific HLA-C allotypes. HLA-C genotyping was performed using allele-specific PCR by analyzing a treatment-naïve cohort of 96 HIV-1-infected patients from multicentric cohorts in the USA, Canada, and Brazil. HIV-1-positive subjects were classified according to their different disease progression status as progressors (Ps, n = 48), long-term non-progressors (LTNPs, n = 37), and elite controllers (ECs, n = 11). HLA-C variants were classified as stable or unstable according to their binding stability to ß2-microglobulin/peptide complex. Our results showed a significant correlation between rapid progression to AIDS and the presence of two or one unstable HLA-C variants (p-value: 0.0078, p-value: 0.0143, respectively). These findings strongly suggest a link between unstable HLA-C variants both at genotype and at allele levels and rapid progression to AIDS. This work provides further insights into the impact of host genetic factors on AIDS progression.

Dermatophytosis and immunovirological status of HIV-infected and AIDS patients from Sao Paulo city, Brazil.

Over the past decades, more people became infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and developed acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Because of that the incidence of fungal infections rose dramatically. It happened because this virus can modify the course of fungal diseases, leading to altered clinical pictures. The aim of this study was to evaluate epidemiological and biological aspects of dermatophytosis in HIV-positive and AIDS patients living in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. A total of 84 (44 HIV-positive and 40 AIDS) patients were enrolled in this study. The patients were tested for dermatophyte infections, as well as for the CD4(+) /CD8(+) and HIV viral load counts. Tinea unguium was most frequently observed in AIDS patients, whereas Tinea pedis was mostly observed in HIV-positive patients. The most frequent dermatophyte species was Trichophyton rubrum. CD4(+) counts and CD4(+) /CD8(+) ratios were not associated with a higher risk for dermatophytosis. On the other hand, viral load higher than 100 000 copies/ml was associated with a higher frequency of dermatophytosis. The results suggest to that although dermatophytosis is common in HIV-positive and AIDS patients, the degree of immunosuppression does not seems to correlate with increased risk of this fungal infection. In addition, high viral load as a predictive risk factor for dermatophyte infection should be subject of further evaluations.

Latency-associated DNA methylation patterns among HIV-1 infected individuals with distinct disease progression courses or antiretroviral virologic response.

DNA methylation is one of the epigenetic modifications that configures gene transcription programs. This study describes the DNA methylation profile of HIV-infected individuals with distinct characteristics related to natural and artificial viremia control. Sheared DNA from circulating mononuclear cells was subjected to target enrichment bisulfite sequencing designed to cover CpG-rich genomic regions. Gene expression was assessed through RNA-seq. Hypermethylation in virologic responders was highly distributed closer to Transcription Start Sites (p-value = 0.03). Hyper and hypomethylation levels within TSS adjacencies varied according to disease progression status (Kruskal-Wallis, p < 0.001), and specific differentially methylated regions associated genes were identified for each group. The lower the promoter methylation, the higher the gene expression in subjects undergoing virologic failure (R = - 0.82, p = 0.00068). Among the inversely correlated genes, those supporting glycolysis and its related pathways were hypomethylated and up-regulated in virologic failures. Disease progression heterogeneity was associated with distinct DNA methylation patterns in terms of rates and distribution. Methylation was associated with the expression of genes sustaining intracellular glucose metabolism in subjects undergoing antiretroviral virologic failure. Our findings highlight that DNA methylation is associated with latency, disease progression, and fundamental cellular processes.