Marone Gianni, Varricchi Gilda, Loffredo Stefania, Galdiero Maria Rosaria, Rivellese Felice, de Paulis Amato
Department of Translational Medical Sciences (DiSMeT), University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy.
Int Arch Allergy Immunol. 2016;171(3-4):158-165. doi: 10.1159/000452889. Epub 2016 Dec 14.
The World Health Organization AIDS epidemic update estimates that more than 37 million people are living with HIV infection. Despite the unprecedented success of antiretroviral treatments, significant challenges remain in the fight against HIV. In particular, how uninfected cells capture HIV and transmit virions to target cells remains an unanswered question. Tissue mast cells and peripheral blood basophils can be exposed to virions or HIV products during infection. Several HIV proteins (i.e., envelope glycoproteins gp120 and gp41, Tat, and Nef) can interact with distinct surface receptors expressed by human basophils and mast cells and modulate their functional responses at different levels. Additionally, several groups have provided evidence that human mast cells can be infected in vitro, as well as in vivo, by certain strains of HIV. Recently, it has been demonstrated that basophils purified from healthy donors and intestinal mast cells can efficiently capture HIV on their cell surface and, cocultured with CD4+ T cells, they can transfer the virus to the cocultured cells leading to infection. Direct contact between human basophils or intestinal mast cells and CD4+ T cells can mediate viral trans-infection of T cells through the formation of viral synapses. Thus, basophils and mast cells can provide a cellular basis for capturing and then spreading viruses throughout the body. Collectively, these findings suggest that human basophils and mast cells play a complex and possibly distinct role in HIV infection, warranting further investigations.
世界卫生组织《艾滋病疫情最新情况》估计，超过3700万人感染了艾滋病毒。尽管抗逆转录病毒治疗取得了前所未有的成功，但在抗击艾滋病毒方面仍面临重大挑战。特别是，未感染的细胞如何捕获艾滋病毒并将病毒粒子传播给靶细胞仍是一个未解之谜。在感染过程中，组织肥大细胞和外周血嗜碱性粒细胞可能会接触到病毒粒子或艾滋病毒产物。几种艾滋病毒蛋白（即包膜糖蛋白gp120和gp41、Tat和Nef）可以与人类嗜碱性粒细胞和肥大细胞表达的不同表面受体相互作用，并在不同水平上调节它们的功能反应。此外，多个研究小组已提供证据表明，某些艾滋病毒毒株可在体外以及体内感染人类肥大细胞。最近，有研究表明，从健康供体中纯化的嗜碱性粒细胞和肠道肥大细胞能够在其细胞表面有效捕获艾滋病毒，并且与CD4+T细胞共培养时，它们可以将病毒转移至共培养的细胞中，从而导致感染。人类嗜碱性粒细胞或肠道肥大细胞与CD4+T细胞之间的直接接触可通过形成病毒突触介导T细胞的病毒转染。因此，嗜碱性粒细胞和肥大细胞可为捕获病毒并在全身传播病毒提供细胞基础。总体而言，这些发现表明人类嗜碱性粒细胞和肥大细胞在艾滋病毒感染中发挥着复杂且可能独特的作用，值得进一步研究。
