Selective Induction of Apoptosis in HIV-Infected Macrophages

Abstract

The eradication of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) from infected patients is one of the major medical problems of our time, primarily due to HIV reservoir formation. Macrophages play important roles in HIV reservoir formation: once infected, they shield HIV against host anti-viral immune responses and anti-retroviral therapies, help viral spread and establish infection in anatomically protected sites. Thus, it is imperative to selectively induce the apoptosis of HIV-infected macrophages for a complete cure of this disease. I hypothesize that HIV infection dysregulates the expression of some specific genes, which is essential to the survival of infected host cells, and these genes can be targeted to selectively induce the apoptosis of HIV-infected macrophages. My objective is to identify the genes that can be targeted to eradicate HIV reservoir in macrophages, and to briefly elucidate the mechanism of cell death induced by targeting one of the identified genes. A four-step strategy was proposed to reach the goal. First, 90k shRNA lentivirus pool technology and microarray analysis were employed in a genome-wide screen of genes and 28 promising genes were found. Second, siRNA silencing was applied to validate these genes with 2 different HIV-1 viruses; as a result, 4 genes, Cox7a2, Znf484, Cdk2, and Cstf2t, were identified to be novel gene targets. Third, the 4 validated genes were characterized by literature review. Lastly, I briefly elucidated the mechanism of apoptosis induced by targeting one of the identified gene, Cox7a2. The results of this study can help to understand the mechanisms of HIV reservoir formation in macrophages and propose promising therapeutic targets for the eradication of HIV-infected macrophages from patients.