Determination of the activation profile of the cell signalization pathways at the early steps of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV-1) infection

Abstract

HIV is the causative agent of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). According to UNAIDS there are roughly 33 million of people living with HIV. Although several studies have address many aspects of HIV infections some elements pertaining to the relationship between the virus and target cells are still waiting for a better characterization. Many studies have looked at the early steps of the viral-cellular interactions but mainly from the viral perspective. The objective of the proposed work is to evaluate modifications occurring in protein phosphorylation in TCD4+ lymphocytes, monocytes purified from human peripheral blood, and Jurkat cells at the early steps of HIV infection. We intend to investigate the alterations in protein phosphorylation in cell extracts obtained from TCD4+ lymphocytes, monocytes Jurkat cells after infection with X4 and R5 HIV strains at different time-points using fosfo-antibody microarrays. We also will investigate if the activation stage of these cells could have some effect on the alterations in protein phosphorylation induced by the virus' entry in the host cell. After the identification of the putative signal transduction pathways, the second step will be the validation of the selected pathways. (AU)