Ladinsky Mark S, Kieffer Collin, Olson Gregory, Deruaz Maud, Vrbanac Vladimir, Tager Andrew M, Kwon Douglas S, Bjorkman Pamela J
Division of Biology & Biological Engineering 114-96, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, United States of America.
Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
PLoS Pathog. 2014 Jan 30;10(1):e1003899. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1003899. eCollection 2014 Jan.
Critical aspects of HIV-1 infection occur in mucosal tissues, particularly in the gut, which contains large numbers of HIV-1 target cells that are depleted early in infection. We used electron tomography (ET) to image HIV-1 in gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) of HIV-1-infected humanized mice, the first three-dimensional ultrastructural examination of HIV-1 infection in vivo. Human immune cells were successfully engrafted in the mice, and following infection with HIV-1, human T cells were reduced in GALT. Virions were found by ET at all stages of egress, including budding immature virions and free mature and immature viruses. Immuno-electron microscopy verified the virions were HIV-1 and showed CD4 sequestration in the endoplasmic reticulum of infected cells. Observation of HIV-1 in infected GALT tissue revealed that most HIV-1-infected cells, identified by immunolabeling and/or the presence of budding virions, were localized to intestinal crypts with pools of free virions concentrated in spaces between cells. Fewer infected cells were found in mucosal regions and the lamina propria. The preservation quality of reconstructed tissue volumes allowed details of budding virions, including structures interpreted as host-encoded scission machinery, to be resolved. Although HIV-1 virions released from infected cultured cells have been described as exclusively mature, we found pools of both immature and mature free virions within infected tissue. The pools could be classified as containing either mostly mature or mostly immature particles, and analyses of their proximities to the cell of origin supported a model of semi-synchronous waves of virion release. In addition to HIV-1 transmission by pools of free virus, we found evidence of transmission via virological synapses. Three-dimensional EM imaging of an active infection within tissue revealed important differences between cultured cell and tissue infection models and furthered the ultrastructural understanding of HIV-1 transmission within lymphoid tissue.
HIV-1感染的关键环节发生在黏膜组织,尤其是肠道,肠道中含有大量HIV-1靶细胞,这些细胞在感染早期就会减少。我们利用电子断层扫描(ET)对感染HIV-1的人源化小鼠的肠道相关淋巴组织(GALT)中的HIV-1进行成像,这是首次对体内HIV-1感染进行三维超微结构检查。人类免疫细胞成功植入小鼠体内,感染HIV-1后,GALT中的人类T细胞减少。通过ET在病毒释放的各个阶段都发现了病毒粒子,包括出芽的未成熟病毒粒子以及游离的成熟和未成熟病毒。免疫电子显微镜证实病毒粒子为HIV-1,并显示感染细胞的内质网中有CD4隔离。对感染的GALT组织中HIV-1的观察表明,大多数通过免疫标记和/或出芽病毒粒子的存在鉴定的HIV-1感染细胞定位于肠隐窝,游离病毒粒子聚集在细胞间的间隙中。在黏膜区域和固有层中发现的感染细胞较少。重建组织体积的保存质量使得能够分辨出芽病毒粒子的细节,包括被解释为宿主编码的切割机制的结构。尽管从感染的培养细胞中释放的HIV-1病毒粒子被描述为仅成熟,但我们在感染组织中发现了未成熟和成熟游离病毒粒子的聚集。这些聚集可以分为主要包含成熟或主要包含未成熟颗粒的类型,对它们与起源细胞的接近程度的分析支持了病毒粒子释放的半同步波模型。除了通过游离病毒聚集进行HIV-1传播外,我们还发现了通过病毒学突触进行传播的证据。对组织内活跃感染的三维电子显微镜成像揭示了培养细胞和组织感染模型之间的重要差异,并进一步加深了对HIV-1在淋巴组织内传播的超微结构理解。