Molecular markers of human retroviral infection in blood cells
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Identification of molecular markers of human retroviral infection in blood cells and their subsets.
IRAS ID
321471
Contact name
Iart Luca Shytaj
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bristol
Duration of Study in the UK
6 years, 11 months, 28 days
Research summary
At least 50 million people worldwide are estimated to be infected by human retroviruses. Retroviruses are pathogens that typically target white blood cells and can persist chronically in the infected host. Apart from HIV, which can lead to AIDS, the most widespread human retrovirus is HTLV, which can lead to the development of aggressive malignancies and severe neurological pathologies. Currently available therapies can mitigate, or in some cases stop disease progression, but are unable to cure the infection and require lifelong administration. The chronic persistance of retroviral infection is due to its ability to integrate its genetic material into the host DNA, where it can remain for an indefinite period of a time in a latent form. Therefore, latently infected white blood cells are regarded as the main obstacle to reach a cure. The current project is aimed at identifying markers of latent human retroviral infection and studying their potential to serve as therapeutic targets. To this aim, we will perform large scale sequencing analysis of different types of human white blood cells which are known to be stably infected by HIV or HTLV or that will be infected in the laboratory. We will integrate these data to dissect the role of specific genes, proteins, or metabolic products in determining the susceptibility of these cells to undergo latent retroviral infection as compared to other acute or chronic viral infections of blood cells. Moreover, we will alter the expression of the most relevant candidate markers of latent infection, through drugs or genetic techniques. Our overall goal will be to provide an integrated atlas of cellular markers of retroviral persistance that can be exploited by novel, targeted therapeutics to eliminate latently infected cells.
REC name
South West - Cornwall & Plymouth Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/SW/0029
Date of REC Opinion
2 Mar 2023
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion