Viruses (Dec 2020)

Longitudinal Analysis of Peripheral and Colonic CD161<sup>+</sup> CD4<sup>+</sup> T Cell Dysfunction in Acute HIV-1 Infection and Effects of Early Treatment Initiation

  • Kerri G. Lal,
  • Yuwadee Phuang-Ngern,
  • Suchada Suhkumvittaya,
  • Edwin Leeansyah,
  • Aljawharah Alrubayyi,
  • Joana Dias,
  • Adam Waickman,
  • Dohoon Kim,
  • Eugène Kroon,
  • Suteeraporn Pinyakorn,
  • Leigh Anne Eller,
  • Milton Maciel Jr.,
  • Rungsun Rerknimitr,
  • Nitiya Chomchey,
  • Nittaya Phanuphak,
  • Mark S. de Souza,
  • Sorachai Nitayaphan,
  • Julie A. Ake,
  • Sandhya Vasan,
  • Merlin L. Robb,
  • Jintanat Ananworanich,
  • Johan K. Sandberg,
  • Alexandra Schuetz,
  • Michael A. Eller,
  • Dominic Paquin-Proulx,
  • on behalf of the RV217, RV254/SEARCH010, RV304/SEARCH Study Groups

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/v12121426
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 12
p. 1426

Abstract

Read online

CD161 expression on CD4+ T cells is associated with a Th17 functional phenotype, as well as with an innate capacity to respond to interleukin (IL)-12 and IL-18 without T cell receptor (TCR) stimulation. Chronic HIV-1 infection is associated with loss of the CD161+ CD4 T cell population, and non-human primate studies suggest that their depletion is associated with disease progression. However, the dynamics of the CD161+ CD4+ T cell population during acute HIV-1 infection remains unknown. In this study, we characterize peripheral blood CD161+ CD4+ T cells in detail, and examine how they are affected during the earliest stages of HIV-1 infection. Unbiased surface proteome screening and principal component analysis indicated that CD161+ CD4+ T cells are relatively phenotypically homogeneous between donors, and are intermediates between conventional CD4 T cells and innate-like T cells. In acute untreated HIV-1 infection, the circulating CD161+ CD4+ T cell population decreased in frequency, as did absolute cell counts starting from peak viral load, with elevated levels of activation and exhaustion markers expressed throughout acute HIV-1 infection. The capacity of these cells to respond to stimulation with IL-12 and IL-18 was also reduced. Early initiation of anti-retroviral treatment (ART) during acute HIV-1 infection restored the functionality of peripheral blood CD161+ CD4+ T cells, but not their frequency. In contrast, early ART initiation prevented the decline of colonic CD161+ CD4+ T cells that otherwise started during acute infection. Furthermore, loss of peripheral and colonic CD161+ CD4+ T cells in untreated infection was associated with levels of viral load. These results suggest that acute HIV-1 infection has profound effects on the CD161+ CD4+ T cell population that could not be completely prevented by the initiation of ART.

Keywords