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Updated: May 7, 2026
Isolation, Transfection, and Culture of Primary Human Monocytes
Published on: December 16, 2019
Transcriptome analysis of HIV-infected peripheral blood monocytes: gene transcripts and networks associated with
Andrew J Levine1, Steve Horvath, Eric N Miller
1Department of Neurology, National Neurological AIDS Bank, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, United States.
Unlabelled:
Immunologic dysfunction, mediated via monocyte activity, has been implicated in the development of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND). We hypothesized that transcriptome changes in peripheral blood monocytes relate to neurocognitive functioning in HIV+ individuals, and that such alterations could be useful as biomarkers of worsening HAND.
Methods:
mRNA was isolated from the monocytes of 86 HIV+ adults and analyzed with the Illumina HT-12 v4 Expression BeadChip. Neurocognitive functioning, HAND diagnosis, and other clinical and virologic variables were determined. Data were analyzed using standard expression analysis and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA).
Results:
Neurocognitive functioning was correlated with multiple gene transcripts in the standard expression analysis. WGCNA identified two nominally significant co-expression modules associated with neurocognitive functioning, which were enriched with genes involved in mitotic processes and translational elongation.
Conclusions:
Multiple modified gene transcripts involved in inflammation, cytoprotection, and neurodegeneration were correlated with neurocognitive functioning. The associations were not strong enough to justify their use as biomarkers of HAND; however, the associations of two co-expression modules with neurocognitive functioning warrant further exploration.
