Transcriptome analysis of cell populations stimulated in vitro by autologous polarizing dendritic cells derived from people living with HIV-1

• Grant number: 23/14374-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: September 01, 2024
• End date: August 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Immunology - Immunogenetics
• Principal Investigator: Alberto José da Silva Duarte
• Grantee: Marina Mazzilli Ortega
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina (FM). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Immunotherapy based on monocyte-derived dendritic cells (moDCs) has been explored for its potential to induce protective immunity and may act as an adjuvant to antiretroviral treatment in HIV infection. DCs interact directly with TCD4 and TCD8 lymphocytes, presenting antigens and initiating specific responses. However, the immune microenvironment is also composed of a complexity of cellular subpopulations associated with an intercellular communication network, but which are less investigated. In particular, aDC1 polarizes specific response towards a Th1 pattern, desirable for an anti-viral response, which is why such cells have been explored in clinical anti-HIV immunotherapy protocols, highlighting the need for more in-depth studies on the populations and processes involved in the response triggered by aDC1. In this context, single-cell RNA sequencing technology would allow the analysis of different cellular states through the transcripts of the different cells involved in the process, at high resolution and on a genomic scale. Therefore, the objective of this study is to analyze the transcriptome of peripheral blood mononuclear cells stimulated in vitro by autologous aDC1, loaded with relevant HIV peptides, simulating an anti-HIV immunotherapy condition. Results derived from this study could identify interactions and processes at the transcriptional level, in addition to identifying rare populations, whose methods currently used do not allow their identification, but that could play an important role in this process.