Dendritic cell-mediated HIV-1 transmission to T cells of LAD-1 patients is impaired due to the defect in LFA-1.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Dendritic cells (DC) have been proposed to mediate sexual HIV-1 transmission by capturing the virus in the mucosa and subsequently presenting it to CD4+ T cells. We have demonstrated before that DC subsets expressing higher levels of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) are better HIV-1 transmitters. ICAM-1 binds leukocyte function-associated molecule-1 (LFA-1) on T cells, an integrin responsible for adhesion and signaling at the immunological synapse. To corroborate the importance of the ICAM-1- LFA-1 interaction, we performed transmission experiments to LFA-1 negative leukocytes from Leukocyte Adhesion Deficiency type 1 (LAD-1) patients.

RESULTS:

We clearly show that DC-mediated HIV-1 transmission to LAD-1 T cells is impaired in comparison to healthy controls. Furthermore, HIV-1 transmission to T cells from a unique LAD-1 patient with a well characterized LFA-1 activation defect was impaired as well, demonstrating that activation of LFA-1 is crucial for efficient transmission. Decreased cell adhesion between DC and LAD-1 T cells could also be illustrated by significantly smaller DC-T cell clusters after HIV-1 transmission.

CONCLUSION:

By making use of LFA-1 defect cells from unique patients, this study provides more insight into the mechanism of HIV-1 transmission by DC. This may offer new treatment options to reduce sexual transmission of HIV-1.

• Authors: Fedde Groot, Taco W Kuijpers, Ben Berkhout, Esther C de Jong
• Journal: Retrovirology (Retrovirology) Vol. 3 Pg. 75 (Nov 01 2006) ISSN: 1742-4690 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 17078873 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Lymphocyte Function-Associated Antigen-1

Topics

• Adolescent
• Child
• Child, Preschool
• Dendritic Cells (virology)
• Female
• HIV Infections (transmission, virology)
• HIV-1 (physiology)
• Humans
• Leukocyte-Adhesion Deficiency Syndrome (immunology, physiopathology, virology)
• Lymphocyte Function-Associated Antigen-1 (metabolism)
• Male
• T-Lymphocytes (virology)