Expression of Host Restriction Factors by Memory CD4+T Cells Differs Between Healthy Donors and HIV-1-Infected Individuals with Effective Antiretroviral Therapy

Much has been learnt from the functions of host restriction factors during acute and chronic HIV-1 infection, but far less is known about their role in HIV-1-infected individuals in which viral load is stably suppressed with antiretroviral therapy (ART). In this study transcriptional expression of 42 host restriction factors was determined for memory CD4+ T cells sorted from 10 uninfected and 21 HIV-1-infected individuals, treated with suppressive ART and for which the viral reservoir was quantified. No significant associations were observed between restriction factor expression and HIV-1 reservoir size, quantified by measurement of HIV-1 Gag DNA using droplet digital polymerase chain reaction, and by measurement of replication-competent inducible virus using quantitative viral outgrowth assays. Expression of eight of the restriction factors differed significantly, and with a false discovery rate of <10%, between ART-suppressed and uninfected individuals. APOBEC3G, ISG15, LGALS3BP, RNASEL, and MX2 were upregulated in the ART-suppressed individuals, likely because of increased levels of immune activation observed in virally suppressed compared with uninfected individuals. In contrast CDKN1A, TRIM11, and BRD4 were expressed at lower levels in ART-suppressed than uninfected individuals. This suggests perturbation of the CD4+ memory T cell compartment, in which a viral reservoir persists in HIV-1-infected individuals with effective ART. Modulation of restriction factor expression, or overrepresentation of cell subsets that intrinsically express these restriction factors at lower levels could result in the distinct expression of restriction factors observed in treated infected individuals.