Abstract
Monocytes/macrophages are important target cells for HIV-1. Here, we investigated whether HIV-1 induces changes in the macrophage gene expression profile to support viral replication.
We observed that the macrophage gene expression profiles dramatically changed upon HIV-1 infection. The majority of the HIV-1 regulated genes were also differentially expressed in M2a macrophages. The biological functions associated with the HIV-1 induced gene expression profile in macrophages were mainly related to inflammatory responses. CD9 and ITGA3 were among the top genes upregulated upon HIV-1 infection. We showed that these genes support viral replication and that downregulation of these genes decreased HIV-1 replication in macrophages.
Here we showed that HIV-1 infection of macrophages induces a gene expression profile that may dampen inflammatory responses. CD9 and ITGA3 were among the top genes regulated by HIV-1 and were shown to support viral production most likely at the level of viral budding and release.
•Genes regulated by HIV-1 infection in macrophages are also regulated during M2a polarization.•CD9 and ITGA3 are upregulated in macrophages upon HIV-1 infection.•CD9 and ITGA3 supports HIV-1 replication.•Downregulation CD9 and ITGA3 lowered HIV-1 production.