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TLR2 Signaling Renders Quiescent Naive and Memory CD4⁺ T Cells More Susceptible to Productive Infection with X4 and R5 HIV-Type 1¹

Centre de Recherche en Infectiologie, Centre Hospitalier de l’Université Laval, and Faculté de Médecine, Université Laval, Québec, Canada

It has been recently demonstrated that circulating microbial products are responsible for a systemic immune activation in individuals infected with HIV-type 1. Bacterial products carry structural conserved motifs recognized by TLRs. Some TLR members are expressed in primary human CD4⁺ T cells but the precise functional role played by these pattern recognition receptors is still imprecise. In this study, we report that engagement of TLR2 in quiescent naive and memory CD4⁺ T cells leads to the acquisition of an effector-like phenotype. Interestingly, engagement of TLR2 renders both cell subsets more susceptible to productive infection with X4 virions and a higher virus production was seen with R5 viruses. It can be proposed that exposure of resting CD4⁺ T cells to pathogen-derived products that can engage TLR2 induces the acquisition of an effector-like phenotype in naive and memory CD4⁺ T lymphocytes, a phenomenon that might result in an acceleration of virus replication, immune dysregulation, and HIV-type 1-mediated disease progression.

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¹ This work was supported by a grant to M.J.T. from the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research Grant No. 019015. S.T. holds a Doctoral Award from the Canadian Institute of Health Research HIV/AIDS Research Program; M.J.T. is the recipient of the Canada Research Chair in Human Immuno-Retrovirology (Tier 1 Level). This study was performed by S.T. in partial fulfilment of her Ph.D. degree in the Microbiology-Immunology Program, Faculty of Medicine, Laval University.

² Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Michel J. Tremblay, Laboratoire d’Immuno-Rétrovirologie Humaine, Centre de Recherche en Infectiologie, RC709, 2705 Boulevard Laurier, Québec, Canada, G1V 4G2. E-mail address: michel.j.tremblay{at}crchul.ulaval.ca

³ Abbreviations used in this paper: HIV-1, HIV-type 1; DC, dendritic cell; rh, recombinant human; LTR, long terminal repeat.