Head

Professor Suzanne Crowe, MBBS FRACP MD

Staff

Dr Nicole Webster, Post doctoral fellow

Students

Ms Clare Westhorpe, PhD student, (NHMRC Dora Lush Scholarship) Monash University
Ms Emma Tippett, PhD student, (NHMRC Dora Lush Scholarship) Monash University

 

Research Overview

How does HIV persist in the body despite current treatments for HIV infection? Highly effective antiretroviral therapies are available, however, the virus cannot be eradicated. HIV persists in ‘reservoirs’ - populations of cells that harbour the virus within the brain and other tissues. The focus of the HIV Pathogenesis Laboratory is to characterise these reservoirs of HIV.

Monocytes are immune blood cells that can carry HIV, and can enter the tissues to develop into macrophages – cells that can remain for several months or more while producing more HIV. The role of monocytes and macrophages in HIV persistence is being studied in two ways:

• Investigating the ability of HIV to infect different subsets of monocytes in the blood, and how HIV replicates in monocytes and macrophages
• Testing the effects of HIV infection on the ability of monocytes to migrate around the body, including into the brain. Production of matrix metalloproteinases by macrophages, which are vital to cell migration, appear to be affected by HIV infection. We think that HIV may promote retention of infected macrophages in the tissues to enable the virus to persist.

 

Research Objectives

• To characterise HIV infection of monocytes in the blood, and HIV replication in monocytes and macrophages
• To determine whether HIV promotes the establishment and persistence of viral reservoirs by affecting the migration of infected cells

These objectives will indicate how HIV is surviving in the face of effective treatment, so that we may target this reservoir for eradication of HIV in the future.

 

Research Highlights

• Demonstration that the CD16+ monocyte subset selectively harbours HIV in infected individuals
• Development of a model for studying the migration of monocytes across the blood brain barrier
• Development of assays to evaluate matrix metalloproteinases produced by macrophages and to determine the effects of HIV on their activity