Autophagy plays an important role in the containment of HIV-1 in nonprogressor-infected patients |
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| Authors: | Roberta Nardacci Alessandra Amendola Fabiola Ciccosanti Marco Corazzari Valentina Esposito Chrysoula Vlassi Chiara Taibi Gian Maria Fimia Franca Del Nonno Giuseppe Ippolito Gianpiero D’Offizi Mauro Piacentini |
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| Institution: | 1.National Institute for Infectious Diseases; IRCCS “L. Spallanzani”; Rome, Italy;2.Department of Biology; University of Rome “Tor Vergata”; Rome, Italy;3.Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies (DiSTeBA); University of Salento; Lecce, Italy |
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| Abstract: | Recent in vitro studies have suggested that autophagy may play a role in both HIV-1 replication and disease progression. In this study we investigated whether autophagy protects the small proportion of HIV-1 infected individuals who remain clinically stable for years in the absence of antiretroviral therapy, these named long-term nonprogressors (LTNP) and elite controllers (EC). We found that peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of the HIV-1 controllers present a significantly higher amount of autophagic vesicles associated with an increased expression of autophagic markers with respect to normal progressors. Of note, ex vivo treatment of PBMC from the HIV-1 controllers with the MTOR inhibitor rapamycin results in a more efficient autophagic response, leading to a reduced viral production. These data lead us to propose that autophagy contributes to limiting viral pathogenesis in HIV-1 controllers by targeting viral components for degradation. |
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| Keywords: | HIV-1 autophagy long-term nonprogressors elite controllers cell death AMBRA1 BECN1 ATG5 |
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