High SDF-1 expression in HIV-1 carriers does not correlate with CD8+ T-cell-mediated suppression of viral replication

Stromal cell-derived factor 1 (SDF-1) inhibits T-cell tropic (T-tropic) HIV-1 infection in vitro. In this study, we examined the regulatory role of SDF-1 on HIV-1 replication in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of HIV-infected individuals. We found that the amount of SDF-1 mRNA in freshly isolated PBMC of HIV-1 carriers was higher than in healthy donors. Moreover, PBMC from some asymptomatic carriers (ACs) exhibited high levels of SDF-1 mRNA expression. The level of SDF-1 expression in PBMC did not correlate with the magnitude of CD8+ T-cell-mediated suppression of HIV-1 among ACs SDF-1 inhibited HIV-1 replication at the viral entry step, whereas a single-cycle HIV-1 infection system showed that the major part of the CD8+ T-cell-mediated suppression occurs after intracellular penetration of the virus. Our results suggest that SDF-1 acts as a suppressor of virus replication in a CD8+ T-cell-independent mechanism in HIV-infected individuals.