Nanotechnology as a New Therapeutic Approach to Prevent the HIV-Infection of Treg Cells

Background HIV-1 has proved to infect regulatory T cells (Treg) modifying their phenotype and impairing their suppressive capacity. As Treg cells are a crucial component in the preservation of the immune homeostasis, we researched that the antiviral capacity of carboxilan dendrimers prevents the HIV-1 infection of Treg and their effects. The phenotype and suppressive capacity of Treg treated or non-treated with carbosilane dendrimers were studied by flow cytometry. Treated and non-treated Treg from healthy donors were infected with HIV-1(NL4.3). The infection of Treg cells by HIV-1, and protective effect of two dendrimers were determined by measuring antigen p24(gag) in the supernatant of the culture and intracellular. Results The Treg cells were treated with cationic and anionic carbosilane dendrimers. The results showed that both dendrimers did not modify the phenotype and functionality of Treg cells compared with non-treated Treg cells. Anionic dendrimers showed high biocompatibility with normal activity of the Treg cells and in antiviral assays. These dendrimers were highly active against HIV-1 preventing the infection of Treg, and were able to protect the Treg from the Foxp3 downregulation induced by the HIV-1 infection. Conclusions This is the first work showing that the in vitro use of anionic dendrimers prevent the HIV-1 replication and the infection of expanded Treg cells in culture, which raises the possibility to use Treg cells therapeutically in HIV-1-infected subjects.