CD32+CD4+memory T cells are enriched for total HIV-1 DNA in tissues from humanized mice

CD32 has raised conflicting results as a putative marker of the HIV-1 reservoir. We measured CD32 expression in tissues from viremic and virally suppressed humanized mice treated relatively early or late after HIV-1 infection with combined antiretroviral therapy. CD32 was expressed in a small fraction of the memory CD4(+) T-cell subsets from different tissues in viremic and aviremic mice, regardless of treatment initiation time. CD32(+) memory CD4(+) T cells were enriched in cell associated (CA) HIV-1 DNA but not in CA HIV-1 RNA as compared to the CD32(-) CD4(+) fraction. Using multidimensional reduction analysis, several memory CD4(+)CD32(+) T-cell clusters were identified expressing HLA-DR, TIGIT, or PD-1. Importantly, although tissue-resident CD32(+)CD4(+) memory cells were enriched with translation-competent reservoirs, most of it was detected in memory CD32-CD4(+) T cells. Our findings support that CD32 labels highly activated/exhausted memory CD4(+) T-cell subsets that contain only a small proportion of the translation-competent reservoir

Hepatitis C virus among blood donors in Lubumbashi, DRC: Seroprevalence and molecular characterisation.

To date, no study has been done yet on the distribution of Hepatitis C virus genotypes in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo. The objective of this work was to determine the seroprevalence and study the distribution of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes among blood donors in Lubumbashi, DRC. This was a cross-sectional descriptive study among blood donors. The detection of anti-HCV antibodies was carried out by rapid diagnostic test (RDT) then confirmed by Chemiluminescent immuno-assay (CLIA). Viral load was determined by Nucleic Acid Amplification test (NAT) on Panther system and genotyping by Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) on Sentosa platform. The obtained seroprevalence was 4.8%. Genotypes 3a (5.0%), 4 (90.0%) and 7 (5.0%) and a few drug resistance mutations were identified in the study population. Significant disturbances of some studied biochemical parameters (HDL-cholesterol, direct bilirubin, transaminases, ALP, GGT and albumin) have been observed in positive HCV blood donors. Irregular family and volunteer donors have been found as the socio-demographic characteristics associated with hepatitis C. With a seroprevalence of 4.8% obtained among blood donors, Lubumbashi is in an area with medium endemicity for HCV, highlighting the need to implement strategies aiming to improve transfusion safety among blood recipients in Lubumbashi. This study reports for the first time the presence of HCV strains of genotypes 3a, 4 and 7. These results might allow better therapeutic management of HCV infections and contribute to the development of the mapping of HCV genotypes in Lubumbashi and DRC as well