Cell Rep: Using Sialyl-LewisX glycoprotein to identify active HIV reservoirs that are hidden during treatment, it lays the foundation for the development of a cure for HIV infection.

August 17, 2020 /--- In a new study, researchers from research institutions such as the Westa Institute in the United States may have found a new way to identify and target HIV reservoirs hidden during antiretroviral drugs (ART) treatment.
findings could have transformative implications for improving long-term care for HIV-positive people.
study was recently published in the journal Cell Reports under the title "Sialyl-Lewis X Glycoantigen Is Enriched on Cells with Persistent HIV Transcription Therapy."
from Cell Reports, 2020, doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2020.107991.
ART greatly improves the health and life expectancy of people living with HIV, inhibits the replication of the virus in host immune cells, and prevents disease from progressing;
the continued presence of the virus limits immune recovery and is associated with chronic inflammatory levels, so people treated for HIV are at higher risk of multiple diseases.
that this persistent infection stems from the fact that HIV can be hidden in a rare group of CD4 T cells.
looking for new markers to identify this library of viruses is critical to HIV eradication. Dr Mohamed Abdel-Mohsen, co-author of the
paper and assistant professor at the Wiesta Institute's Center for Vaccine and Immunotherapy, said: "With our recent progress in the field of sugar biology and sugar immunology, it is clear that sugar molecules present on the surface of immune cells play a vital role in regulating their function and destiny.
, however, the correlation between surface glycosylation of host cells in HIV persistence has largely remained untasteed, making it a 'dark matter' that we understand the latent nature of HIV.
the first time we have described a cellular surface glycological feature that can affect HIV persistence.
" continuously infected immune cells can be divided into two categories: cells where the virus is completely silent without producing any viral RNA (i.e., a silent HIV library);
targeting and eliminating both types of HIV library is the focus of the search for a cure for HIV infection.
one of the main challenges in this exploration is that we don't yet have a clear understanding of how these two types of infected cells are different from each other and those that are not infected with HIV.
, it is important to identify markers that distinguish these cells.
the new study, Abdel-Mohsen and colleagues used progeny cell models of HIV latent infection to describe the surface glycological characteristics of HIV-infected cells.
confirmed their results in CD4 T cells isolated directly from HIV patients treated with ART.
the authors identified a process called "fucosylation", a feature of the virus genome that is actively being tweed by persistent infection of T cells.
algal glycosylation is a sugar molecule called algal sugar attached to proteins present on the surface of cells and is essential for the activation of T cells.
the authors also found that the expression of a specific algal glycosylated protein called Sialyl-LewisX (SLeX) identifies persistent HIV transcription in the body, and that primary CD4 T cells with high levels of SLeX have higher levels of T-cell pathogenes and proteins known to drive HIV transcription during ART treatment.
no such glycosylation pattern was found on the surface of HIV-infected cells where the virus was tweed, providing a differentiated feature between the two cell types.
, they also found that HIV itself promotes changes in the surface sugar histology of these cells.
important, having a high level of SLeX is a feature of some cancer cells that allow them to metasmot (spread to other parts of the body).
, the authors found that HIV-infected cells with high levels of SLeX were rich in molecular pathways involved in transporting blood and tissue.
these different levels of transshipment may play an important role in the continued presence of HIV in tissues that are the main places where HIV is hidden during ART treatment.
based on these findings, further research is needed on the role of algal glycosylation in HIV persistence to determine how it promotes HIV persistence and how it can be used to target HIV reservoirs in blood and tissues.
(bioon.com) Reference: 1.Florent Colomb et al. Sialyl-LewisX Glycoantigen Enriched on Cells with Persistent HIV Transcription when Therapy. Cell Reports, 2020, doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2020.107991.Sugar-based signature identifies T cells where HIV hides despite antiretroviralrapy.