ArticlePLoS pathogens2020
HIV infects astrocytes in vivo and egresses from the brain to the periphery.
Article in PLoS pathogens, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 113 papers.
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Who cites it
113 citing papers in PubMed, 144 citations in OpenAlex.
- Latent HIV Infection of BBB Pericytes Enhances Gap Junction-mediated Crosstalk with Endothelial Cells.Molecular neurobiology · 2026Article
- HAND in Africa: prevalence, diagnostic challenges and the search for objective markers.Journal of neurovirology · 2026Review
- Latent HIV Infection of BBB Pericytes Disrupts Gap Junction-Mediated Crosstalk with Endothelial Cells.Research square · 2026Article
- Beyond the neuron: the role of glial cells in viral neuropathogenesis.Journal of virology · 2026Review
- HIV Reservoirs in Brain parenchyma and Cerebrospinal Fluid During Suppressive ART: Same-Same or Very Different?Current HIV/AIDS reports · 2026Review
- Differential selectivity of microglia and astrocytes in HIV-1 gp120-induced synaptic pruning.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2026Article
- Review
- Smoldering in the sanctuary: HIV-associated brain injury in the ART era.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2026Review
- Breaking into HIV-1's Epigenetic Vault: Cure Strategies to Eliminate the Viral Reservoir.Viruses · 2026Review
- Pathogenic breaches: how viruses compromise blood-tissue barriers.Tissue barriers · 2026Review
- SARS-CoV-2 Infection Influences Wnt/β-Catenin Pathway Components in Astrocytes.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- SLC38A9 is directly involved in Tat-induced endolysosome dysfunction and senescence in astrocytes.Life science alliance · 2025Article
- Expression of HIV envelope protein in the human central nervous system.AIDS (London, England) · 2025Article
- Article
- Impact of chromatin on HIV-1 latency: a multi-dimensional perspective.Epigenetics & chromatin · 2025Review
- New perspectives on heterogeneity in astrocyte reactivity in neuroinflammation.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2025Article
- Inflammatory responses revealed through HIV infection of microglia-containing cerebral organoids.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2025Article
- Imaging Flow Cytometry in HIV Infection Research: Advantages and Opportunities.Methods and protocols · 2025Review
- The cerebrospinal fluid virome in people with HIV: links to neuroinflammation and cognition.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- The Proviral Reservoirs of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Infection.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
53 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
HIV invades the brain during acute infection. Yet, it is unknown whether long-lived infected brain cells release productive virus that can egress from the brain to re-seed peripheral organs. This understanding has significant implication for the brain as a reservoir for HIV and most importantly HIV interplay between the brain and peripheral organs. Given the sheer number of astrocytes in the human brain and their controversial role in HIV infection, we evaluated their infection in vivo and whether HIV infected astrocytes can support HIV egress to peripheral organs. We developed two novel models of chimeric human astrocyte/human peripheral blood mononuclear cells: NOD/scid-IL-2Rgc null (NSG) mice (huAstro/HuPBMCs) whereby we transplanted HIV (non-pseudotyped or VSVg-pseudotyped) infected or uninfected primary human fetal astrocytes (NHAs) or an astrocytoma cell line (U138MG) into the brain of neonate or adult NSG mice and reconstituted the animals with human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). We also transplanted uninfected astrocytes into the brain of NSG mice and reconstituted with infected PBMCs to mimic a biological infection course. As expected, the xenotransplanted astrocytes did not escape/migrate out of the brain and the blood brain barrier (BBB) was intact in this model. We demonstrate that astrocytes support HIV infection in vivo and egress to peripheral organs, at least in part, through trafficking of infected CD4+ T cells out of the brain. Astrocyte-derived HIV egress persists, albeit at low levels, under combination antiretroviral therapy (cART). Egressed HIV evolved with a pattern and rate typical of acute peripheral infection. Lastly, analysis of human cortical or hippocampal brain regions of donors under cART revealed that astrocytes harbor between 0.4-5.2% integrated HIV gag DNA and 2-7% are HIV gag mRNA positive. These studies establish a paradigm shift in the dynamic interaction between the brain and peripheral organs which can inform eradication of HIV reservoirs.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.