Barrier Immunity Section, Laboratory of Viral Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Phillip J. Baker
Barrier Immunity Section, Laboratory of Viral Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Charlotte A. Langner
Barrier Immunity Section, Laboratory of Viral Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Jennifer Simpson
Barrier Immunity Section, Laboratory of Viral Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Apollo Stacy
Metaorganism Immunity Section, Laboratory of Immune System Biology and Laboratory of Host Immunity and Microbiome, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA; Department of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Sciences, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA
Jacob K. Flynn
Barrier Immunity Section, Laboratory of Viral Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Carly E. Starke
Barrier Immunity Section, Laboratory of Viral Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Carol L. Vinton
Barrier Immunity Section, Laboratory of Viral Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Christine M. Fennessey
AIDS and Cancer Virus Program, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD 21702, USA
Yasmine Belkaid
Metaorganism Immunity Section, Laboratory of Immune System Biology and Laboratory of Host Immunity and Microbiome, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA; NIAID Microbiome Program, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Brandon F. Keele
AIDS and Cancer Virus Program, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD 21702, USA
Jason M. Brenchley
Barrier Immunity Section, Laboratory of Viral Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA; Corresponding author
Summary: Variations in the composition of the intestinal bacterial microbiome correlate with acquisition of some sexually transmitted pathogens. To experimentally assess the contribution of intestinal dysbiosis to rectal lentiviral acquisition, we induce dysbiosis in rhesus macaques (RMs) with the antibiotic vancomycin prior to repeated low-dose intrarectal challenge with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) SIVmac239X. Vancomycin administration reduces T helper 17 (TH17) and TH22 frequencies, increases expression of host bacterial sensors and antibacterial peptides, and increases numbers of transmitted-founder (T/F) variants detected upon SIV acquisition. We observe that SIV acquisition does not correlate with measures of dysbiosis but rather associates with perturbations in the host antimicrobial program. These findings establish a functional association between the intestinal microbiome and susceptibility to lentiviral acquisition across the rectal epithelial barrier.
