Preferential infection of dendritic cells during human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection of blood leukocytes

Abstract

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) transmission by the parenteral route is similar to mucosal transmission in the predominance of virus using the CCR5 coreceptor (R5 virus), but it is unclear whether blood dendritic cells (DCs), monocytes, or T cells are the cells initially infected. We used ex vivo HIV-1 infection of sorted blood mononuclear cells to model the in vivo infection of blood leukocytes. Using quantitative real-time PCR to detect full-length HIV-1 DNA, both sorted CD11c+ myeloid and CD11c- plasmacytoid DCs were more frequently infected than other blood mononuclear cells, including CD16+ or CD14+ monocytes or resting CD4+ T cells. There was a strong correlation between CC..