Cell Discovery: Dynamic changes of T cells in chronic HIV-infected patients and the impact of ART therapy

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is an important public health problem worldwide

During HIV infection, CD4 ⁺T cells are the main target cells attacked by HIV, and CD8 + T cells are the main cells that play an antiviral role [2]

On March 29, 2022, the team of Academician Wang Fusheng from the Fifth Medical Center of the Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital, together with Peking University Biomedical Frontier Innovation Center (BIOPIC), Beijing Future Genetic Diagnosis Advanced Innovation Center (ICG), and Professor Bai Fan from the School of Life Sciences The team cooperated and published a research paper titled Global transcriptomic characterization of T cells in individuals with chronic HIV-1 infectionin the journal Cell Discovery .

This study enriched CD4 ⁺T and CD8 ⁺T cells in peripheral blood from 4 healthy individuals (HD group) and 14 chronic HIV-infected subjects, including 9 from untreated HIV-infected subjects, respectively.

Figure 1: Schematic diagram of the research process and T cell subset map

The researchers found that CD4 ⁺Naive and CD8 ^{+ Naive cells in the peripheral blood of HIV-infected patients were significantly decreased, and CD4 +}  T and CD8 ⁺ T cell subsets  with high cytotoxicity and clonal expansion were  significantly increased; after ART treatment, effector T cells The relative number of cells decreased, while the number of CD4 ⁺  Naive and CD8 ⁺  Naive cells rebounded, but could not return to the level and state of healthy people

　　Figure 2: Map of compositional changes in CD4 ⁺  T and CD8 ⁺  T cells

　　Using a hierarchical clustering method based on T cell composition, the researchers divided the samples into three groups corresponding to different clinical outcomes (Figure 3)

　　Figure 3: Clinical significance of T cells with high GNLY expression in chronic HIV-infected patients

　　This study deeply analyzed the dynamic changes in the composition and status of T cell subsets in the peripheral blood of chronic HIV-infected patients and the impact of ART treatment, providing a wealth of resources for clinical diagnosis and scientific research, and helping to better understand chronic HIV infection The immune response during the period inspires new treatment ideas

　　Academician Wang Fusheng of the Fifth Medical Center of the PLA General Hospital and Professor Bai Fan of Peking University Biomedical Frontier Innovation Center (BIOPIC), Beijing Future Genetic Diagnosis Advanced Innovation Center (ICG), and School of Life Sciences are the co-corresponding authors

　　Original link: https://　　references

　　[1] Gottlieb, MS et al.

　　[2] Deeks, SG et al.