DAA-mediated HCV cure reduces HIV DNA levels in HCV/HIV coinfected people.

IMPORTANCE: Antiretroviral therapy (ART) for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can control virus replication and prolong the life of people living with HIV (PLWH). However, the virus remains dormant within immune cells in what is called the HIV reservoir. Furthermore, 2.3 million PLWH are also coinfected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and are at risk of developing chronic liver disease and cancer. HCV treatment with direct acting antivirals (DAA) can completely cure the infection in more than 95% of treated individuals and improve their long-term health outcomes. In this study, we investigated how HCV treatment and cure affect the HIV reservoir. We demonstrate the beneficial impact of DAA treatment as it reduces the HIV reservoirs in particular in people infected with HCV before HIV. These results support the need for early ART and DAA treatment in HIV/HCV coinfections.

Differential immune transcriptomic profiles between vaccinated and resolved HCV reinfected subjects.

Successive episodes of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection represent a unique natural rechallenge experiment to define correlates of long-term protective immunity and inform vaccine development. We applied a systems immunology approach to characterize longitudinal changes in the peripheral blood transcriptomic signatures in eight subjects who spontaneously resolved two successive HCV infections. Furthermore, we compared these signatures with those induced by an HCV T cell-based vaccine regimen. We identified a plasma cell transcriptomic signature during early acute HCV reinfection. This signature was absent in primary infection and following HCV vaccine boost. Spontaneous resolution of HCV reinfection was associated with rapid expansion of glycoprotein E2-specifc memory B cells in three subjects and transient increase in E2-specific neutralizing antibodies in six subjects. Concurrently, there was an increase in the breadth and magnitude of HCV-specific T cells in 7 out of 8 subjects. These results suggest a cooperative role for both antibodies and T cells in clearance of HCV reinfection and support the development of next generation HCV vaccines targeting these two arms of the immune system.

Expansion of Unique Hepatitis C Virus-Specific Public CD8+ T Cell Clonotypes during Acute Infection and Reinfection.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection resolves spontaneously in ∼25% of acutely infected humans where viral clearance is mediated primarily by virus-specific CD8+ T cells. Previous cross-sectional analysis of the CD8+ TCR repertoire targeting two immunodominant HCV epitopes reported widespread use of public TCRs shared by different subjects, irrespective of infection outcome. However, little is known about the evolution of the public TCR repertoire during acute HCV and whether cross-reactivity to other Ags can influence infectious outcome. In this article, we analyzed the CD8+ TCR repertoire specific to the immunodominant and cross-reactive HLA-A2-restricted nonstructural 3-1073 epitope during acute HCV in humans progressing to either spontaneous resolution or chronic infection and at ∼1 y after viral clearance. TCR repertoire diversity was comparable among all groups with preferential usage of the TCR-ß V04 and V06 gene families. We identified a set of 13 public clonotypes in HCV-infected humans independent of infection outcome. Six public clonotypes used the V04 gene family. Several public clonotypes were long-lived in resolvers and expanded on reinfection. By mining publicly available data, we identified several low-frequency CDR3 sequences in the HCV-specific repertoire matching human TCRs specific for other HLA-A2-restricted epitopes from melanoma, CMV, influenza A, EBV, and yellow fever viruses, but they were of low frequency and limited cross-reactivity. In conclusion, we identified 13 new public human CD8+ TCR clonotypes unique to HCV that expanded during acute infection and reinfection. The low frequency of cross-reactive TCRs suggests that they are not major determinants of infectious outcome.

Optimizing power consumption and position control in an electro-hydraulic system with cylinder bypass and NN-MPC.

This study introduces an innovative approach to enhance the energy efficiency and position control performance of electro-hydraulic systems, employing a comprehensive comparative analysis. It presents and evaluates three control techniques: Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) control, Model Predictive Control (MPC), and Neural Network Model Predictive Control (NN-MPC). These methods are systematically assessed across varying load conditions. Notably, our research unequivocally establishes the exceptional performance of the NN-MPC approach, even when confronted with load variations. Furthermore, the study conducts an exhaustive examination of energy consumption by comparing a conventional system, where a flow control valve is not utilized as a hydraulic cylinder bypass, with a proposed system that employs a fully open Flow Control Valve (FCV). The results underscore the remarkable energy savings achieved, reaching up to 9% at high load levels.

Two transcriptionally and functionally distinct waves of neutrophils during mouse acute liver injury.

BACKGROUND: Neutrophils are key mediators of inflammation during acute liver injury (ALI). Emerging evidence suggests that they also contribute to injury resolution and tissue repair. However, the different neutrophil subsets involved in these processes and their kinetics are undefined. Herein, we characterized neutrophil kinetics and heterogeneity during ALI. METHODS: We used the carbon tetrachloride model of ALI and employed flow cytometry, tissue imaging, and quantitative RT-PCR to characterize intrahepatic neutrophils during the necroinflammatory early and late repair phases of the wound healing response to ALI. We FACS sorted intrahepatic neutrophils at key time points and examined their transcriptional profiles using RNA-sequencing. Finally, we evaluated neutrophil protein translation, mitochondrial function and metabolism, reactive oxygen species content, and neutrophil extracellular traps generation. RESULTS: We detected 2 temporarily distinct waves of neutrophils during (1) necroinflammation (at 24 hours after injury) and (2) late repair (at 72 hours). Early neutrophils were proinflammatory, characterized by: (1) upregulation of inflammatory cytokines, (2) activation of the noncanonical NF-κB pathway, (3) reduction of protein translation, (4) decreased oxidative phosphorylation, and (5) higher propensity to generate reactive oxygen species and neutrophil extracellular traps. In contrast, late neutrophils were prorepair and enriched in genes and pathways associated with tissue repair and angiogenesis. Finally, early proinflammatory neutrophils were characterized by the expression of a short isoform of C-X-C chemokine receptor 5, while the late prorepair neutrophils were characterized by the expression of C-X-C chemokine receptor 4. CONCLUSIONS: This study underscores the phenotypic and functional heterogeneity of neutrophils and their dual role in inflammation and tissue repair during ALI.