The expression of P-glycoprotein and cellular kinases is modulated at the transcriptional level by infection and highly active antiretroviral therapy in a primate model of AIDS.

The beneficial effects of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in HIV-infected patients may be limited by inadequate compliance and viral resistance, but also by host cell factors, such as P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and intracellular kinases involved in the phosphorylation of nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. We investigated the effects of infection and HAART (zidovudine [AZT], lamivudine [3TC], and indinavir [IDV] on the expression of P-gp and cell kinases involved in the phosphorylation of AZT and 3TC in SHIV89.6P-infected cynomolgus macaques. Under unstimulated conditions, we observed a decrease in P-gp mRNA levels in the peripheral blood and lymph node mononuclear cells of infected macaques, which was accentuated by HAART. SHIV infection also resulted in the overexpression of thymidine kinase mRNA, which was abolished by HAART. In conclusion, retroviral infection and HAART modulate in vivo at the transcriptional level the expression of host cell factors that may affect the efficacy of HAART.

Impact of bone marrow hematopoiesis failure on T-cell generation during pathogenic simian immunodeficiency virus infection in macaques.

Experimental infection of macaques with pathogenic strains of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) represents one of the most relevant animal models for studying HIV pathogenesis. In this study, we demonstrated a significant decrease in the generation of CD4+ T cells from bone marrow (BM) CD34+ progenitors in macaques infected with SIVmac251. This decrease appears to result from changes in the clonogenic potential of BM progenitors of both the myeloid and lymphoid lineages. We also demonstrated a significant decrease in the numbers of the most immature long-term culture-initiating cells (LTC-ICs). Hematopoietic failure occurred as early as primary infection, in the absence of CD34+ BM cell infection and was not related to plasma viral load. No major change was observed in the phenotype of BM CD34+ cells from infected macaques, including apoptosis markers such as annexin V staining and BcL-2 expression, but a significantly higher that normal proportion of cells were in the G0/G1 phase. This is the first demonstration that failure of BM hematopoiesis results in impaired T-cell production, which may contribute to the disruption of T-lymphocyte homeostasis characteristic of pathogenic lentiviral infections in primates.

Retroviral interleukin 1alpha gene transfer in bone marrow stromal cells in a primate model: induction of myelopoiesis stimulation.

Effects of interleukin 1-alpha (IL-1alpha), a proinflammatory cytokine with pleiotropic activity, in the myelopoietic setting, is mainly linked to its ability to increase haematopoietic growth factor production by bone marrow stromal cells. In order to minimize systemic effects of IL-1alpha therapy, we proposed a model of retroviral IL-1alpha gene transfer within bone marrow stromal cells in the macaque cynomolgus. Invitro, 10-15% of bone marrow stromal cells was effectively transduced by retroviral vector (murine Moloney leukaemia virus-derived) expressing IL-1alpha/LacZ, or LacZ alone as control marker, as assessed by betaGal staining. IL-1alpha gene expression was upregulated [semiquantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)] within the transduced cells and the cell supernatant showed an increased production of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) and granulocyte-macrophage (GM)-CSF (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) and an increased clonogenic activity (colony-forming cell assay). Ex vivo autologous expanded IL-1alpha/LacZ transduced bone marrow stromal cells were reinfused in two macaques (and two control animals for LacZ alone as controls), without clinical systemic toxicity; LacZ expression by RT-PCR was detected in one animal of each group between d 4 and 9. A slight increase of the peripheral blood leucocyte counts (both polymorphonuclear cells and monocytes) of the two animals transduced with IL-1alpha/LacZ was observed within 10 d, indicating stimulation of myelopoiesis.