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Targeted plasma proteomics identifies MICA and IL1R1 proteins associated with HIV-1 reservoir size.

iScience

Authors: Marc J T Blaauw, Jéssica Cristina Dos Santos, Nadira Vadaq, Wim Trypsteen, Wouter van der Heijden, Albert Groenendijk, Zhenhua Zhang, Yang Li, Quirijn de Mast, Mihai G Netea, Leo A B Joosten, Linos Vandekerckhove, Andre van der Ven, Vasiliki Matzaraki

HIV-1 reservoir shows high variability in size and activity among virally suppressed individuals. Differences in the size of the viral reservoir may relate to differences in plasma protein concentrations. We tested whether plasma protein expression levels are associated with levels of cell-associated (CA) HIV-1 DNA and RNA in 211 virally suppressed people living with HIV (PLHIV). Plasma concentrations of FOLR1, IL1R1, MICA, and FETUB showed a positive association with CA HIV-1 RNA and DNA. Moreover, SNPs in close proximity to and genes were found to influence the levels of CA HIV-1 RNA and DNA. We found a difference in mRNA expression of the gene in homozygotes carrying the rs9348866-A allele compared to the ones carrying the G allele (p < 0.005). Overall, our findings pinpoint plasma proteins that could serve as potential targets for therapeutic interventions to lower or even eradicate cells containing CA HIV-1 RNA and DNA in PLHIV.

© 2023 The Authors.

PMID: 37091231

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