AIDSWEEKLY Plus; Monday, October 24, 2005
Staff Medical Writers

"We have developed human cervicovaginal organ culture systems to examine the initiating events in HIV transmission after exposure to various sources of HIV infectivity, including semen. Newly infected cells were detected in the cervical submucosa 3-4 days after exposure to a primary HIV isolate.

"At earlier times, extensive and stable binding occurred when cervical surfaces were exposed to virions or seminal cells. Cervical mucus provided some protection for the endocervical surface, by physically trapping virions and seminal cells," scientists in the United States report.

"Confocal microscopy combined with 3D surface reconstruction revealed that virions could both bind to the external surface of the cervical epithelium and actually penetrate beneath the epithelial surface.

"In quantitative assays, pretreatment with a blocking antibody directed against 1131 integrin reduced HIV virion binding," wrote D. Maher and colleagues at the University of Minnesota.

Investigators concluded, "Collectively, these results highlight a continuum of complex interactions that occurs when natural sources of HIV infectivity are deposited onto mucosal surfaces in the female reproductive tract."

Maher and colleagues published their study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (HIV binding, penetration, and primary infection in human cervicovaginal tissue. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 Aug 9;102(32):11504-9.

For additional information, contact P. Southern, University of Minnesota, School of Medicine, Dept. Microbiology, MMC 196, 420 Delaware St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.

The publisher's contact information for the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America is: National Academy Sciences, 2101 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20418, USA.

Keywords: Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, HIV Transmission, Cervicovaginal Organ Culture System, 3-Dimensional Tissue Surface Reconstruction, Viral Infectivity.

This article was prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other reports.

Reference

Maher D, Wu X, Schacker T, et al., HIV binding, penetration, and primary infection in human cervicovaginal tissue, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 Aug 9;102(32):11504-9.

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