Antiretroviral treatment (ART) initiation during the early stages of HIV-1 infection is associated with a higher probability of maintaining drug-free viral control during subsequent treatment interruptions, for reasons that remain unclear. Using samples from a randomized-controlled human clinical trial evaluating therapeutic HIV-1 vaccines, we here show that early ART commencement is frequently associated with accelerated and efficient selection of genome-intact HIV-1 proviruses in repressive chromatin locations during the first year after treatment initiation. This selection process was unaffected by vaccine-induced HIV-1-specific T cell responses. Single-cell proteogenomic profiling demonstrated that cells harboring intact HIV-1 displayed a discrete phenotypic signature of immune selection by innate immune responses, characterized by a slight but significant upregulation of HLA-C, HLA-G, the IL-10 receptor, and other markers involved in innate immune regulation. Together, these results suggest an accelerated immune selection of viral reservoir cells during early-treated HIV-1 infection that seems at least partially driven by innate immune responses.
Background Complete revascularisation in patients with multivessel disease who are treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) may improve outcomes compared with an infarct-related artery (IRA)-only strategy. However, non-IRA percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) may result in additional myocardial infarction (MI). Objectives To determine whether or not in-hospital complete revascularisation was associated with increased total infarct size (IS) in patients participating in the Complete versus Lesion-only PPCI trial (CvLPRIT). Secondary objectives were to assess whether or not myocardial salvage index, myocardial ischaemia and final IS at follow-up were different with a complete revascularisation versus an IRA-only strategy. Design Multicentre, prospective, randomised, controlled and open-label trial with blinded end-point analysis. Setting Seven PPCI centres in England, UK. Participants ST-segment elevation MI (STEMI) patients with multivessel disease (angiographic stenosis > 70% in one view or > 50% in orthogonal views) presenting within 12 hours of symptom onset and treated with the PPCI. Coronary artery bypass surgery, cardiogenic shock and contraindications to cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR; substudy only) imaging were exclusions. Interventions Patients were randomised to either complete in-hospital revascularisation or an IRA-only strategy. Main outcome measures The primary outcome was IS as measured by CMR undertaken at 48–72 hours post PPCI. Secondary outcome measures included microvascular obstruction, myocardial salvage index, left ventricular volumes and ejection fraction and final IS on the acute and follow-up CMR carried out at 9 months post STEMI. Results Patients were recruited from May 2011 until May 2013 and followed up for 12 months. Of 296 patients randomised in the main CvLPRIT, 205 consented to participate in the CMR substudy and 203 had analysable images for the primary end point. Patients in the IRA-only group ( n = 105) were well matched to those in the complete revascularisation group ( n = 98) for all baseline characteristics {mean age 64.1 years [standard deviation (SD) 10.8 years] vs. 63.1 years (SD 11.3 years); male sex 89% vs. 79%, respectively}. Total IS was not significantly different in the IRA-only and complete revascularisation groups {median 13.5% [interquartile range (IQR) 6.2–21.9%] of left ventricular (LV) mass vs. median 12.6% (IQR 7.2–22.6%) LV mass, respectively; 95% confidence interval –4.09% to 31.17%; p = 0.57}. Myocardial salvage index was also not significantly different in the IRA-only and complete revascularisation groups [median 58.5% (IQR 32.8–74.9%) vs. median 60.5% (IQR 40.6–81.9%), respectively; p = 0.14]. The prevalence of non-IRA MI on acute CMR was higher in the complete revascularisation group than in the IRA-only group (22/98 vs. 11/105, respectively; p = 0.02). There was no difference in total IS, ischaemic burden or LV volumes between treatment groups at follow-up CMR. Limitations The CMR substudy population may not be a true representation of the overall study population. The optimal timing of CMR to measure IS post PPCI is uncertain. Myocardial salvage was assessable in only 70% of patients. Conclusions Multivessel PCI, compared with an IRA-only revascularisation, in the setting of STEMI led to a small increase in CMR imaging-detected non-IRA MI, but total IS was not increased. Future work Larger studies are required to (1) confirm that death and MI are reduced by a complete revascularisation strategy; (2) assess whether or not functional assessment of non-IRA lesions results in similar outcomes to a pragmatic angiographic-based revascularisation strategy; and (3) assess the timing of in-hospital versus staged outpatient complete revascularisation. Trial registration Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN70913605. Funding This project was funded by the Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) programme, a Medical Research Council and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) partnership. The main CvLPRIT was funded by the British Heart Foundation (SP/10/001) with support from the NIHR Comprehensive Local Research Networks.
Persistence of HIV through integration into host DNA in CD4+ T cells presents a major barrier to virus eradication. Viral integration may be curtailed when CD8+ T cells are triggered to kill infected CD4+ T cells through recognition of histocompatibility leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I-bound peptides derived from incoming virions. However, this has been reported only in individuals with "beneficial" HLA alleles that are associated with superior HIV control. Through interrogation of the pre-integration immunopeptidome, we obtain proof of early presentation of a virion-derived HLA-A∗02:01-restricted epitope, FLGKIWPSH (FH9), located in Gag Spacer Peptide 2 (SP2). FH9-specific CD8+ T cell responses are detectable in individuals with primary HIV infection and eliminate HIV-infected CD4+ T cells prior to virus production in vitro. Our data show that non-beneficial HLA class I alleles can elicit an effective antiviral response through early presentation of HIV virion-derived epitopes and also demonstrate the importance of SP2 as an immune target.
Third-generation P2Y12 antagonists (prasugrel and ticagrelor) are recommended in guidelines on ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. Mechanisms translating their more potent antiplatelet activity into improved clinical outcomes versus the second-generation P2Y12 antagonist clopidogrel are unclear. The aim of this post hoc analysis of the Complete Versus Lesion-Only PRImary PCI Trial-CMR (CvLPRIT-CMR) substudy was to assess whether prasugrel and ticagrelor were associated with reduced infarct size compared with clopidogrel in patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention.CvLPRIT-CMR was a multicenter, prospective, randomized, open-label, blinded end point trial in 203 ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction patients with multivessel disease undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention with either infarct-related artery-only or complete revascularization. P2Y12 inhibitors were administered according to local guidelines. The primary end point of infarct size on cardiovascular magnetic resonance was not significantly different between the randomized groups. P2Y12 antagonist administration was not randomized. Patients receiving clopidogrel (n=70) compared with those treated with either prasugrel or ticagrelor (n=133) were older (67.8±12 versus 61.5±10 years, P<0.001), more frequently had hypertension (49% versus 29%, P=0.007), and tended to have longer symptom-to-revascularization time (234 versus 177 minutes, P=0.05). Infarct size (median 16.1% [quartiles 1-3, 10.5-27.7%] versus 12.1% [quartiles 1-3, 4.8-20.7%] of left ventricular mass, P=0.013) and microvascular obstruction incidence (65.7% versus 48.9%, P=0.022) were significantly greater in patients receiving clopidogrel. Infarct size remained significantly different after adjustment for important covariates using both generalized linear models (P=0.048) and propensity score matching (P=0.025).In this analysis of CvLPRIT-CMR, third-generation P2Y12 antagonists were associated with smaller infarct size and lower microvascular obstruction incidence versus the second-generation P2Y12 antagonist clopidogrel for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction.URL: http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN70913605.