Lipopolysaccharide Increases Immune Activation and Alters T Cell Homeostasis in SHIVB’WHU Chronically Infected Chinese Rhesus Macaque

Abstract EN

Immune activation plays a significant role in the disease progression of HIV.

Microbial products, especially bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS), contribute to immune activation.

Increasing evidence indicates that T lymphocyte homeostasis disruptions are associated with immune activation.

However, the mechanism by which LPS affects disruption of immune response is still not fully understood.

Chronically SHIVB’WHU-infected Chinese rhesus macaques received 50 μg/kg body weight LPS in this study.

LPS administration affected the virus/host equilibrium by elevating the levels of viral replication and activating T lymphocytes.

LPS induced upregulation of CD8+ naïve T cells and downregulated the number of CD4+ and CD8+ T effector memory cells.

The downregulated effector memory cells are associated with a lower frequency of monofunctional and polyfunctional cells, and an upregulated programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) expression on CD4+ and CD8+ T cells was observed in monkeys after LPS stimulation.

Our data provide new insights into the function of LPS in the immune activation in SHIV/HIV infection.