Abstract
Background During the first trimester of pregnancy, HIV-1 in utero transmission is rare despite the permissivity of the placenta and the decidua (the uterine mucosa during pregnancy) to infection. In the decidua from the first trimester of pregnancy, macrophages (dMs) are the HIV-1 main target cells. Decidual natural killer (dNK) cells account for 70 % of decidual leukocytes. They display distinct phenotype and functions compared to peripheral NK cells. At the periphery, NK cells are involved in the control of HIV-1 infection. In this study, we investigate whether human decidual natural killer (dNK) cells control dM HIV-1 infection.ResultsAutologous cocultures of infected dMs with dNK cells reveal that dNK cells strongly inhibit dM HIV-1 infection. The addition of dNK cells to dMs at different times after infection suggests that the control occurs before the complete establishment of the infection. Double chamber cocultures show that cellular contacts are necessary for an optimal control of infection. Nevertheless, soluble factors secreted by dMs and dNK cells in double chamber cocultures partially inhibit dM HIV-1 infection, indicating that soluble factors have also a role in the control of infection. IFN-γ secretion is increased in infected and uninfected cocultures. We show that IFN-γ is involved in the control of dM HIV-1 infection by dNK cells.ConclusionsThese results demonstrate that human dNK cells inhibit efficiently HIV-1 infection in dMs in vitro, and highlight the role of innate immune determinants in the control of HIV-1 transmission.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12977-016-0271-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
During the first trimester of pregnancy, Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1 (HIV-1) in utero transmission is rare despite the permissivity of the placenta and the decidua to infection
Some of the soluble factors secreted by dMs and Decidual natural killer (dNK) cells have a role in the control of HIV-1 infection
We have shown that dNK cells control HIV-1 infection of dMs in vitro through cellular contacts and soluble factors and that IFN-γ is involved in this control
Summary
During the first trimester of pregnancy, HIV-1 in utero transmission is rare despite the permissivity of the placenta and the decidua (the uterine mucosa during pregnancy) to infection. In the decidua from the first tri‐ mester of pregnancy, macrophages (dMs) are the HIV-1 main target cells. We investigate whether human decidual natural killer (dNK) cells control dM HIV-1 infection. During the first trimester of pregnancy, HIV-1 in utero transmission is relatively rare [1], and may occur through the infection of cells at the materno-fetal interface. The main materno-fetal interface is made up of the decidua basalis (the uterine mucosa during pregnancy) and the placenta. The low frequency of HIV-1 in utero transmission, despite the permissivity of the placenta and the decidua to infection, indicates that there is a control of HIV-1 infection at the materno-fetal interface. It has been shown that some cytokines and chemokines, antibodies and co-infections influence HIV-1 infection of placental
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