Increased expression and dysregulated association of restriction factors and type I interferon in HIV, HCV mono- and co-infected patients

Host restriction factors and type I interferon are important in limiting HIV and HCV infections, yet the role of HIV, HCV mono- and co-infection in regulating these antiviral genes expression is not clear. In this study, we measured the levels of TRIM5, TRIM22, APOBEC3G, and IFN-, - mRNA expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 43 HIV mono-infected, 70 HCV mono-infected and 64 HIV/HCV co-infected patients along with 98 healthy controls. We also quantified HIV and HCV viral loads in mono- and co-infected patients. The results showed that HCV, HIV mono- and co-infection differentially increased TRIM22, APOBEC3G, and IFN-, - mRNA expression while the mRNA expression of TRIM was upregulated only by HCV-mono infection. HIV/HCV co-infection was associated with higher viral load, compared to either HIV or HCV mono-infection. Additionally, we showed TRIM and TRIM22 positively correlated with IFN-, -, which could be dysregulated by HIV, HCV mono- and co-infection. Furthermore, we found TRIM22 negatively correlated with HCV viral load in mono-infected patients and APOBEC3G positively correlated with HCV viral load in co-infected patients. Collectively, our findings suggest the potential role of restriction factors in restricting HIV, HCV mono- and co-infection in vivo, which appears to be a therapeutic target for potential drug discovery. J. Med. Virol. 88:987-995, 2016. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.