Lijie Duan

Bio: Lijie Duan is an academic researcher from University of Minnesota. The author has contributed to research in topics: Simian immunodeficiency virus & Immune system. The author has an hindex of 18, co-authored 28 publications receiving 4217 citations.

Peak SIV replication in resting memory CD4 + T cells depletes gut lamina propria CD4 + T cells

Abstract: In early simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) and human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) infections, gut-associated lymphatic tissue (GALT), the largest component of the lymphoid organ system, is a principal site of both virus production and depletion of primarily lamina propria memory CD4+ T cells; that is, CD4-expressing T cells that previously encountered antigens and microbes and homed to the lamina propria of GALT. Here, we show that peak virus production in gut tissues of SIV-infected rhesus macaques coincides with peak numbers of infected memory CD4+ T cells. Surprisingly, most of the initially infected memory cells were not, as expected, activated but were instead immunophenotypically 'resting' cells that, unlike truly resting cells, but like the first cells mainly infected at other mucosal sites and peripheral lymph nodes, are capable of supporting virus production. In addition to inducing immune activation and thereby providing activated CD4+ T-cell targets to sustain infection, virus production also triggered an immunopathologically limiting Fas-Fas-ligand-mediated apoptotic pathway in lamina propria CD4+ T cells, resulting in their preferential ablation. Thus, SIV exploits a large, resident population of resting memory CD4+ T cells in GALT to produce peak levels of virus that directly (through lytic infection) and indirectly (through apoptosis of infected and uninfected cells) deplete CD4+ T cells in the effector arm of GALT. The scale of this CD4+ T-cell depletion has adverse effects on the immune system of the host, underscoring the importance of developing countermeasures to SIV that are effective before infection of GALT.

Glycerol monolaurate prevents mucosal SIV transmission

Abstract: Clinical trials of microbicides as a means of preventing the transmission of HIV-1 to women have proved disappointing. Now a study in the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)–rhesus macaque vaginal transmission model for HIV infection suggests that a prophylactic approach might yet be worth pursuing. The commonly used antimicrobial compound glycerol monolaurate (GML) was found to suppress SIV infection even after repeated virus exposure. But its mechanism of action was surprising. The host's inflammatory response to the virus, rather than helping, was shown to fuel the infection by recruiting the very CD4+ T cells that the virus targets. GML's prophylactic action appeared to result from its ability to block this host response, rather than from a direct effect on the virus. This points to cell signalling and innate host responses in the mucosal cells as potential targets for drugs and vaccines aimed at preventing infection by HIV — and by other pathogens too if they use similar infection strategies. Glycerol monolaurate in a microbicide is shown to protect monkeys from infection after intra-vaginal exposure to high doses of SIV. The suppressive activity may be due to the inhibition of target cell recruitment due to glycerol-monolaurate-mediated inhibition of epithelial cell signalling and inflammatory cytokine expression. Although there has been great progress in treating human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) infection1, preventing transmission has thus far proven an elusive goal. Indeed, recent trials of a candidate vaccine and microbicide have been disappointing, both for want of efficacy and concerns about increased rates of transmission2,3,4. Nonetheless, studies of vaginal transmission in the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)–rhesus macaque (Macacca mulatta) model point to opportunities at the earliest stages of infection in which a vaccine or microbicide might be protective, by limiting the expansion of infected founder populations at the portal of entry5,6. Here we show in this SIV–macaque model, that an outside-in endocervical mucosal signalling system, involving MIP-3α (also known as CCL20), plasmacytoid dendritic cells and CCR5+cell-attracting chemokines produced by these cells, in combination with the innate immune and inflammatory responses to infection in both cervix and vagina, recruits CD4+ T cells to fuel this obligate expansion. We then show that glycerol monolaurate—a widely used antimicrobial compound7 with inhibitory activity against the production of MIP-3α and other proinflammatory cytokines8—can inhibit mucosal signalling and the innate and inflammatory response to HIV-1 and SIV in vitro, and in vivo it can protect rhesus macaques from acute infection despite repeated intra-vaginal exposure to high doses of SIV. This new approach, plausibly linked to interfering with innate host responses that recruit the target cells necessary to establish systemic infection, opens a promising new avenue for the development of effective interventions to block HIV-1 mucosal transmission.

Propagation and Dissemination of Infection after Vaginal Transmission of Simian Immunodeficiency Virus

Abstract: In the current global AIDS pandemic, more than half of new human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infections are acquired by women through intravaginal HIV exposure. For this study, we explored pathogenesis issues relevant to the development of effective vaccines to prevent infection by this route, using an animal model in which female rhesus macaques were exposed intravaginally to a high dose of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV). We examined in detail the events that transpire from hours to a few days after intravaginal SIV exposure through week 4 to provide a framework for understanding the propagation, dissemination, and establishment of infection in lymphatic tissues (LTs) during the acute stage of infection. We show that the mucosal barrier greatly limits the infection of cervicovaginal tissues, and thus the initial founder populations of infected cells are small. While there was evidence of rapid dissemination to distal sites, we also show that continuous seeding from an expanding source of production at the portal of entry is likely critical for the later establishment of a productive infection throughout the systemic LTs. The initially small founder populations and dependence on continuous seeding to establish a productive infection in systemic LTs define a small window of maximum vulnerability for the virus in which there is an opportunity for the host, vaccines, or other interventions to prevent or control infection.

Global genomic analysis reveals rapid control of a robust innate response in SIV-infected sooty mangabeys

Abstract: Natural SIV infection of sooty mangabeys (SMs) is nonprogressive despite chronic virus replication. Strikingly, it is characterized by low levels of immune activation, while pathogenic SIV infection of rhesus macaques (RMs) is associated with chronic immune activation. To elucidate the mechanisms underlying this intriguing phenotype, we used high-density oligonucleotide microarrays to longitudinally assess host gene expression in SIV-infected SMs and RMs. We found that acute SIV infection of SMs was consistently associated with a robust innate immune response, including widespread upregulation of IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs) in blood and lymph nodes. While SMs exhibited a rapid resolution of ISG expression and immune activation, both responses were observed chronically in RMs. Systems biology analysis indicated that expression of the lymphocyte inhibitory receptor LAG3, a marker of T cell exhaustion, correlated with immune activation in SIV-infected RMs but not SMs. Our findings suggest that active immune regulatory mechanisms, rather than intrinsically attenuated innate immune responses, underlie the low levels of immune activation characteristic of SMs chronically infected with SIV.

Differences in HIV Burden and Immune Activation within the Gut of HIV-Positive Patients Receiving Suppressive Antiretroviral Therapy

Abstract: Background. The gut is a major reservoir for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in patients receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART). We hypothesized that distinct immune environments within the gut may support varying levels of HIV.Methods. In 8 HIV-1-positive adults who were receiving ART and had CD4 + T cell counts of >200 cells/µL and plasma viral loads of <40 copies/mL, levels of HIV and T cell activation were measured in blood samples and endoscopic biopsy specimens from the duodenum, ileum, ascending colon, and rectum.Results. HIV DNA and RNA levels per CD4 + T cell were higher in all 4 gut sites compared with those in the blood. HIV DNA levels increased from the duodenum to the rectum, whereas the median HIV RNA level peaked in the ileum. HIV DNA levels correlated positively with T cell activation markers in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) but negatively with T cell activation markers in the gut. Multiply spliced RNA was infrequently detected in gut, and ratios of unspliced RNA to DNA were lower in the colon and rectum than in PBMCs, which reflects paradoxically low HIV transcription, given the higher level of T cell activation in the gut.Conclusions. HIV DNA and RNA are both concentrated in the gut, but the inverse relationship between HIV DNA levels and T cell activation in the gut and the paradoxically low levels of HIV expression in the large bowel suggest that different processes drive HIV persistence in the blood and gut.Trial registration. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00884793 (PLUS1).

Massive infection and loss of memory CD4+ T cells in multiple tissues during acute SIV infection.

Abstract: It has recently been established that both acute human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infections are accompanied by a dramatic and selective loss of memory CD4+ T cells predominantly from the mucosal surfaces. The mechanism underlying this depletion of memory CD4+ T cells (that is, T-helper cells specific to previously encountered pathogens) has not been defined. Using highly sensitive, quantitative polymerase chain reaction together with precise sorting of different subsets of CD4+ T cells in various tissues, we show that this loss is explained by a massive infection of memory CD4+ T cells by the virus. Specifically, 30-60% of CD4+ memory T cells throughout the body are infected by SIV at the peak of infection, and most of these infected cells disappear within four days. Furthermore, our data demonstrate that the depletion of memory CD4+ T cells occurs to a similar extent in all tissues. As a consequence, over one-half of all memory CD4+ T cells in SIV-infected macaques are destroyed directly by viral infection during the acute phase-an insult that certainly heralds subsequent immunodeficiency. Our findings point to the importance of reducing the cell-associated viral load during acute infection through therapeutic or vaccination strategies.

Plasma Levels of Soluble CD14 Independently Predict Mortality in HIV Infection

Abstract: Methods. This nested case-control study included 74 subjects who died, 120 of whom developed cardiovascular disease and 81 of whom developed AIDS during the Strategies for Management of Anti-Retroviral Therapy (SMART) study with matched control subjects. Intestinal fatty acid binding protein (I-FABP), lipopolysaccharide (LPS), soluble CD14 (sCD14), endotoxin core antibody (EndoCAb), and 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) were measured in baseline plasma samples. Results. Subjects with the highest quartile of sCD14 levels had a 6-fold higher risk of death than did those in the lowest quartile (95% confidence interval, 2.2‐16.1; P,.001), with minimal change after adjustment for inflammatory markers, CD4 1 T cell count, and HIV RNA level. No other marker was significantly associated with clinical outcomes. I-FABP, LPS, and sCD14 were increased and EndoCAb was decreased in study subjects, compared with healthy volunteers. sCD14 level correlated with levels of IL-6, C-reactive protein, serum amyloid A and D-dimer. Conclusions. sCD14, a marker of monocyte response to LPS, is an independent predictor of mortality in HIV infection. Therapeutic attenuation of innate immune activation may improve survival in patients with HIV infection.

Peak SIV replication in resting memory CD4 + T cells depletes gut lamina propria CD4 + T cells

Abstract: In early simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) and human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) infections, gut-associated lymphatic tissue (GALT), the largest component of the lymphoid organ system, is a principal site of both virus production and depletion of primarily lamina propria memory CD4+ T cells; that is, CD4-expressing T cells that previously encountered antigens and microbes and homed to the lamina propria of GALT. Here, we show that peak virus production in gut tissues of SIV-infected rhesus macaques coincides with peak numbers of infected memory CD4+ T cells. Surprisingly, most of the initially infected memory cells were not, as expected, activated but were instead immunophenotypically 'resting' cells that, unlike truly resting cells, but like the first cells mainly infected at other mucosal sites and peripheral lymph nodes, are capable of supporting virus production. In addition to inducing immune activation and thereby providing activated CD4+ T-cell targets to sustain infection, virus production also triggered an immunopathologically limiting Fas-Fas-ligand-mediated apoptotic pathway in lamina propria CD4+ T cells, resulting in their preferential ablation. Thus, SIV exploits a large, resident population of resting memory CD4+ T cells in GALT to produce peak levels of virus that directly (through lytic infection) and indirectly (through apoptosis of infected and uninfected cells) deplete CD4+ T cells in the effector arm of GALT. The scale of this CD4+ T-cell depletion has adverse effects on the immune system of the host, underscoring the importance of developing countermeasures to SIV that are effective before infection of GALT.